The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday appealed for help from members of the public to help find a suspected multimillion car import fraud suspect who has been swindling Kenyans through unscrupulous means.
According to a report by the detectives, the scheme began with the suspect promising to import vehicles for clients, including foreign nationals and United Nations staff in Nairobi.
Victims were instructed to send payments directly to accounts controlled by the suspect, with some amounts reaching hundreds of thousands of Kenyan shillings.
"While some vehicles were eventually imported, payments to Japanese suppliers were often incomplete, leading to delays, extra charges, storage fees, and other financial losses for clients. In several cases, complainants received no vehicles at all," the police report read in part.
The suspect then either failed to deliver the promised vehicles or made only partial payments to suppliers. This led to delays, additional fees, storage charges, and significant financial losses for clients who had already paid in full.
In several cases, victims lamented that they never received their vehicles, while others were forced to pay unexpected extra costs to complete the import process.
The suspect, who remains at large, also closed all his initial physical offices where he interacted with clients and moved his operations online, as part of his operations to continue receiving payments without raising suspicion.
Following DCI intervention, the alleged fraudsters' company website was taken down, with the business registration cancelled to prevent further transactions.
Authorities are now appealing to anyone with information on his whereabouts to help his victims access justice and put a stop to his tactics.
At the same time, DCI urged anyone with a pending complaint, unresolved case, or relevant information related to the suspect to report immediately to the DCI’s Serious Crime Unit.
Vehicle-related fraud in Kenya has been on the rise in 2025 and early 2026, with several high-profile cases drawing attention.
In January 2025, a well-known car dealer was charged with obtaining millions of shillings for vehicles, including a Honda Vezel and a Subaru Outback, that were never delivered. By September 2025, some of these cases were reportedly settled out of court, though the dealer also faced charges for allegedly misdeclaring a Range Rover to evade customs duties.
