Four arrested trying to defraud lecturer in car deal gone wrong

Imported cars at the port of Mombasa. [File, Standard]

Four suspects were on Wednesday arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers after they tried to defraud a lecturer Sh567, 000 in a deal where they were supposed to help him ship a car into the country.

The don was lured into the deal with after being shown flashy photos of the supposed car over the internet by the fraudsters, who had posed as car agents from Japan based Beforward Car Importers.

A statement by the DCI on its twitter page states the suspects managed to convince the JKUAT lecturer to deposit the said amount of money into an account under NCBA bank to facilitate the car shipment.

The lecturer however became suspicious when he was asked to make another deposit of Sh432, 000 that was said to be duty fees.

The new development prompted the lecturer to report the matter to DCI who were able to track fraudsters’ network.  

Detectives said they (fraudsters) had already channeled the money to an account held by Motor City Ways in Mombasa and had already started calling the company faking erroneous transfer.

The officers also established that one suspect known as Muhindi had requested the company to refund the money in cash through a friend known as Bonface Okumu.

DCI detectives have so far arrested four suspects and have cautioned members of the public against engaging in online transactions with companies, agencies or individuals they have no credible information about.

Car fraudsters on the rise

Early this year, the police alerted the public on a new trend emerging in Nairobi and other major towns where newly imported vehicles were being sold for as little as Sh80, 000.

Some crafty dealers have been said to scramble for cars written off after road accidents to the extent of bribing agents selling the damaged cars.

This secret trade is said to be driven by racketeers who run scrap yards and garages. Here, cars are canibalised from the salvages and are sold in big car yards in major cities around the country.