A matatu driver was on Tuesday night, May 2, cornered by angry youth who unmasked his scheme of faking mobile money messages to petrol station attendants and subsequently leaving huge bills.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Alex Mose, a motorist who witnessed what transpired in Nakuru Town pointed out that the attendant raised the alarm after noticing that the amount had not been reflected on the system.
Minutes later, the driver fled and onlookers pursued him after the attendants alerted them.
"It occurred on Tuesday, May 2, around 8.17 pm at a local petrol station in Nakuru Town. I was busy fueling at the station before witnessing the driver running away while people going after him," Mose stated.
"After engaging two attendants at the station, I found out that the matatu driver was prone to conning the petrol station attendants in particular," he added.
The angry youth who were baying for the driver's blood caught up with him and roughed him up before police officers arrived at the scene and whisked away the driver.
Mobile Money Trick
He noted that the driver regularly showed the mobile money message - that had the business's name, code, balance, and time the text was sent (as would appear in a genuine confirmation message).
However, the petrol station attendant found out that the amount did not reflect on the system indicating that no transaction had occurred. This subsequently left the attendant with a huge bill.
The attendant affirmed to Mose that they were left with a Ksh8,000 bill from the stated driver.
Detailing how they unmasked the driver, the attendant pointed out that they were fond of asking the customers for the payment message and writing on a piece of paper; the name, code and time the message was sent.
On many occasions, the attendants traced back the details to the driver whose supposed transactions never occurred.
Mose revealed that there was an application that generated fake text messages that connived unsuspected business owners
"There's an application that allows one to insert the date and amount, and it generates the message. The app is so crafty and it deducts and shows the name of the premises as would be a normal text message," he pointed out.
Mose urged business owners to be extremely cautious when making transactions.
