Swindler alert: Kenyans conned of cash in fake Lamu port car sale
Pre-owned cars at the Toyotsu Auto Mart Kenya yard on Popo Road in Nairobi. The firm offers a wide range of solutions to car buyers and owners.
John Ng’ang’a, from Kiambu, was elated when he came across an advert from a car-selling company that was supposedly clearing its stock at the Lamu port by giving special offers.
The advert said interested buyers would pay a deposit of 30 percent of a vehicle’s value and clear the balance within 48 months.
With such a payment arrangement, Mr Ng’ang’a was sure his dream of owning a vehicle would be achieved.
But he was in for a rude shock, as the advert led him into a fake online car sale operated by a clique of individuals swindling unsuspecting Kenyans eager to own a vehicle.
“I paid Sh70,000 to book and reserve my vehicle and sent my original identification card and personal identification number as they had requested. I was keeping in touch with a person called Vincent Nasir, who has since blocked my phone calls,” Mr Ng’ang’a said.
He added: “I had to make a trip to Lamu to visit the vehicle depot as indicated in the location pin which was provided, only to be shocked there was no such company and that the Lamu port has never handled any vehicle since it started operations in May last year.”
When the Nation toured the port, it established that Mr Ng’ang’a was not the only one who was swindled of his money.
A security officer at the port gate said several people, whom we could not trace, had visited the port to pick up vehicles that did not exist. Someone had even reportedly paid as much as Sh700,000 as a deposit.
“We have had at least seven cases where people have come here to check on their vehicles only to be shocked there is no such a car dealer at the port. A woman who said she had paid Sh700,000 fainted here at the gate. That is when we alerted port officials and security agents of the matter,” the security officer said.
To find out more, a Nation reporter posed as a buyer and visited Carex Auto’s Facebook page. They contacted the ‘owners’ and furnished them with all the details and was given the company’s account number to deposit money for their preferred vehicle.
A letter signed by Vincent Nasir says a buyer is required to pay reservation and booking fees of Sh70,000 at Stanbic Bank or via an M-Pesa paybill number to reserve a vehicle and get a list of preferred registration numbers.
The company claims it is located at Gate A, yard No. 3 at KPA building of the Lamu port, Hindi Magogoni, Lamu County.
Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia confirmed that police were investigating the company.
“We are following (the cases) closely. The online car-selling company is fake and Lamu port does not have any such office. I ask members of the public who may have fallen victim to the syndicate to report to DCI Lamu for further police action,” he said.
Kenya’s used-car business has grown robustly on the back of the growing urban middle class and increasingly flexible financing options for buyers.
Unfortunately, amid the race to corner the market, a few unscrupulous dealers and brokers have infiltrated it. Many Kenyans have fallen victim to these scammers.
Since the Lamu port opened for business in May last year, it has been doing transshipments, with cargo offloaded from one ship and placed in another to complete the journey to the final destination.
No container has been offloaded and kept ashore. Vehicles are only handled at the Mombasa port.
