Woman Seeks DCI Help After Being Conned Ksh650K Trying To Move To Canada

A woman filed a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raising alarm after a recruitment agency allegedly defrauded her Ksh650,000 while seeking to immigrate to Canada.

According to a letter by her, through her lawyers dated February 15 and sent to Viral Tea, she revealed that she met an agent who advised her that the entire process of immigrating to Canada would cost her the amount mentioned above.

The process entailed passport verification, eligibility to be in Canada, ticket, travel visa, insurance and medical.

She revealed that she paid the agent the amount on diverse dates; that is Ksh40,000 on December 14, 2022, Ksh150,000 on December 20, 2022, and Ksh200,000 on March 9, 2023. 

Sometime in March 2023, she went for the capture of her biometrics and was advised to await further communication from the agent. However, from that month to September 2023, that communication was not forthcoming.

"However, sometime in September 2023, the agent intimated to our client that her Canada Visa application was denied. He further advised our client that there was an alternative German Program and that if our client was interested, he would be able to facilitate it.

"Our Client consented to the change from the Canadian program to the German Program and filled the forms presented by the agent and was advised that she was to depart for Germany on the 6th of December 2023," read the letter in part.

After she signed the German Program forms, the agent went silent without providing any updates on the departure. The woman would then discover that sometime in late January 2024, the agent's office in Nairobi was no longer operational.

Viral Tea learnt that the office was closed by authorities who raided his office, confiscated his computers, arrested his employees and detained them for five days before he sought court orders to resume operations at the office, on the condition of accepting only appointments.

Furthermore, phone calls to him were left unanswered regarding the German Program as well as a refund of her Ksh390,000 paid to him.

"We are further advised that our client's incident is not an isolated incident but one in a series of similar scenarios that numerous individuals have been subjected to," the lawyers added, citing 23 people who also fell victim to fraudulent acts by the agent and his four associates.

It was also revealed that the agent had confiscated the original passports of some of their victims and that there was a large number of victims spread all over the country in different towns.

The woman in the letter is seeking the help of DCI to arrest and arraign the agent responsible for defrauding her as well as similar actions against his associates in the illegal practice of obtaining money through false pretence.

Meanwhile, the agent is revealed to have refused to refund those willing to withdraw from the programmes in response to victims reporting the matter to the DCI as well as the courts, until the case is finalised.

"He will not refund anyone...and that people should wait until they receive all necessary documents for travelling abroad. He maintains the programmes are authentic and they will materialise in due time," a source privy to the matter told Viral Tea.

On May 16, 2023, Canada's Immigration Department issued a warning regarding false immigration programmes targeting Kenyans.

In a statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) expressed its dismay at the alarming increase in disinformation that Canada was offering special programmes to Kenyans.