A Nairobi woman by the name Lucy Githaiga and her friends collectively lost a total of Ksh 11 million through financial scams.
Githaiga, a Master's degree holder, narrated on the Metha ya Kagoni show on You tube, how she got scammed on three different occasions.
First, she and her friend travelled to Kakamega County, with an aim of buying 5 grams of gold. Their dream was to start a business selling jewellery made of pure gold.
They would meet their first scammer, a man who told them that 5 grams of gold was too little and assured them that he could show them a substantial amount of unextracted gold.
He explained that the duo would take 75% of the gold extracted while extractors would go home with the rest. Delighted at the deal, Githaiga and her friend agreed and the excavation began.
After a whole year of excavating and investing Ksh 4 million, they only managed to get 400 grams of gold, which they sold at Ksh1.5 million.
Though the duo had made millions of losses, Githaiga's entrepreneurial steam was not away anytime soon and she opted for another business venture.
The business, now referred as Quantum Fund Scam, involved investing a certain amount of money and get it in profits after some months.
A woman who introduced her to the venture explained if she invested Ksh1,000,000, she would get 37% in profit each month. There was also a long-term option where she would get the money after a year.
Her husband was against the idea, hence, warned her about it. She would, however, hear none of it.
She invested Ksh 1 million with the aim of getting the long term proceeds and though not fully into it, the husband also placed Ksh 1 million but for the short-term plan.
The plan felt so good that she contemplated adding an extra Ksh 4 million. Before she could, however, she decided to call the company and enquire. The company introduced her to their 'best investor' who would guide her on the process.
In a meeting between the two, Robert assured her of the company being in legit business. He asked her to invest her Ksh 5 million.
Robert seemed interested to find more information from Githaiga and so he asked what she did for a living. Githaiga explained and went on to add recount that she had fallen into a gold scam.
It is here that Robert took the chance to introduce her to another gold business and a man known as George. This time, she was asked to invest in bullion vaults.
She bought George's story and bullion worth Ksh100,000 as well. In addition, she was asked to tell the good news to her friends who were in a Whatsapp group.
At this point, she was out of money. She withdrew all her shares from her SACCO, deposited half a million into her loop, before transferring the money to George’s loop.
Githaiga created a trading account and made a deposit worth Ksh 500,000. She had been given logins to the account which she later realised were fake. Here, she could see her money grow to Ksh750,000.
She was so happy that she introduced her friends to the venture. In three months, a deposit of Ksh 11 million had been made and multiplied to Ksh 25 million.
It was not until she wanted to withdraw the money that she realised she had been conned. George kept saying that the system had a problem and that he was working on it. She organised a meeting with George but he never showed up.
"It was not until we lost the ability to view our account that I realised we were in trouble," she added.
Her investment at Quantum Fund Company was also in shambles. A system error was also occurring.
Together with her friends, they reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). DCI was able to track down George who vowed to return the money.
George would only pay Ksh200,000 to four investors but that was it. On their part, DCI, did not pursue the matter further.
Her financial troubles have led Githaiga to become a life coach and an author.
