How Shabab man was almost conned Sh 11,000 rent money via text
Con artists now impersonate house agents to rob tenants off their rent.
Ever since the inception of mobile money, convenience has been the order of the day.
Think for instance paying rent. Some landlords even no longer accept cash payments. However, this has now become an avenue for con artists to exploit.
For Alex Ndung’u a resident in Shabab he has been paying rent via paybill since he moved into his apartment for over a year now.
“We are usually required to pay our rent by the fifth day of every month and I make sure I do so by then. This past week being the first week of the month, I knew I was required to do the necessary,” he says.
On June 4, he woke up to a peculiar message from an unknown number saying the paybill number had been changed.
“The message was reminding me to pay rent and gave me new account details where I was supposed to channel the funds. The changes were to take effect from June 5,” he says.
Alex says that it further stated there were no cash payments or any other mode of payment allowed and was undersigned by management.
“I was confused. The text was sent at midnight which made it suspicious. I tried calling the number, but the line was disconnected,” he recalls.
Alex says the following day he tried the number again and the person on the other end picked, saying he works for the real estate agency that owns the apartments and confirmed that Alex should pay the rent to the new account details as soon as possible to avoid inconveniences.
“By this time, I was convinced and I was ready to pay the rent. But something in me told me to ask the caretaker, just to be sure. I was shocked to learn our paybill had not changed and that the man I had spoken to was a conman. Imagine I would have lost my Sh 11,000!” he says still shaken.
Alex however suspects that someone in their apartment building is running the con and may have accessed his phone number from the apartment’s WhatsApp group.
“Nilitoka hiyo Whatsapp group. Wacha I’ll be getting any updates directly from the caretaker,” he adds.
His advice is to confirm such messages from the caretaker or known agent if you receive such a text before making any payments, to avoid being duped.