A journalist who was working at Daily Nation has opened up about a heartbreak he suffered after he was conned his brand new car.
Speaking to former K24 TV anchor Joab Mwaura on Monday, November 2, former Nation Media Group journalist John Maina Kihoro disclosed that he was forced to part with Ksh 450,000.
It all started when Kihoro spotted an advert in the classified section of Daily Nation Newspaper in 2008 where he worked.
He had expressed an interest in owning a car and reached out to the seller before the whole ordeal turned into a back and forth affair.
"It was my first ever car. I was conned Ksh 450,000. It took me a long time to accept that it happened. It was one of the major deals I have ever done in my life. I had joined Nation Sacco and I had more than 300,000 shares. I took a loan of Ksh800,000 and had saved Ksh200,000 in the bank.
"One day, I saw a classified advert and I did not know that some of the adverts were from conmen. I called the number and I was told the owner is within the city but the car yard is located outside," he stated.
He met the purported seller in town and was made to feel comfortable and safe.
The two visited a yard in Donholm and he was even-handed the key to test drive the car which he liked.
The only problem, he explained, was that the seller wanted the payment in cash which meant that he had to go to the bank and withdraw the lump sum amount.
"What happened is, I was showed the car and even test drove it. The logbook and its copies were also availed but as it was explained to me, that the conmen always present themselves as financiers.
"I looked for a lawyer and we drafted an agreement that we both signed. We went to the bank and I went to the teller. The teller called the bank manager due to the huge balance in his account," he explained.
After the withdrawal, the two returned to the lawyer where he handed over the money to the conman. The deal was for the two to return to the yard to pick up the car.
Outside the lawyer's office, the seller reportedly received an abrupt phone call and excused himself to go meet another person never to be seen again.
"I handed over the money. When we left the building, he got a call. He then told me that he was rushing to pick a copy of another car's logbook.
"When I later tried calling him, the man picked but was not speaking," he narrated.
After several years passed, Kihoro recounted that he ran into the conman in Nairobi and after confronting him he ran away.
Below is the video of his narration:
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