New details have emerged indicating that con property brokers, Ministry of Lands officials, rogue police officers, lawyers and disgruntled family members have formed a five-part cartel that sells land to unsuspecting Kenyans using fake title deeds.
According to media reports, the cartel is targeting developed pieces of land in posh areas of Nairobi, parts of the Rift Valley and Central region.
Members of the cartel conduct spot checks of construction sites in these areas and extract the details of the land including the land parcel number, the full name and postal address of the real owner of the land.
The rogue police officers facilitate forging of national identity cards and acquiring other vital owner documents including a picture of the owner with the help of the estranged family members.
They protect the members of the cartel in their dealings and enlist the services of gangsters to kill anyone who stands in the way of the cartel.
Officials within the Ministry of Lands then develop the fake title deed and wait for indications that the landowner is ready to sell, at which point the con property brokers search for prospective buyers.
Ms Edith Githu spoke with The Standard on how she was conned of Sh2 Million in March of this year when she purchased a piece of land in Utawala, Nairobi, by a woman who posed as the owner.
"I met the purported landowner in her lawyer's office in Nairobi. She had an authentic ID bearing the names on the Title Deed and she requested me to pay the Sh2 Million to three Sacco accounts.
"I insisted on paying to a single account so the lawyer told me to pay to his account and I did. Later I tried to reach them for a Letter of Consent but I couldn't," she narrated.
On realising that she had been duped, Ms Githu posted photos of the con woman on Facebook where a well-wisher identified her and she was later arrested now waiting to be arraigned in court.
