After the scam of the fake Safaricom operators who robbed Kenyans and also many Italians of thousands of shillings by emptying their Mpesa accounts and even getting them to hand over, in some cases, the app codes to get into their bank accounts, there is now a new digital fraud that is worrying Kenyan citizens and residents. This time the scam comes to those who have the 'apps' of the bank where you have the account.
On your mobile phone you get (and it looks real, because it comes from your bank) a digital receipt of a successful transaction. A stranger has paid you some money (in the case reported by a 'victim' in Nairobi, 140 thousand shillings). After a few minutes this person calls you, warning you that he has made a mistake and asking for the money back, but not through a bank transaction, since you have the app, according to the stranger who assures you that he has made a mistake, you can send it directly to your phone with Mpesa. He asks you please, because that money was for a very important cause and must be available immediately. Bank transfers take too long, is the excuse.
Obviously, when the scammer finds a kind, helpful and somewhat naive person, he gets the money and disappears from the network. When you ask the bank for the balance, you will realise that the money that according to that message, which seems genuine, had been credited, never actually entered your account.
The bank will confirm that that message is a 'fake', the scammer, evidently well versed in messaging tricks and perhaps also in bank terminals, has reproduced an almost perfect message.
And you lost a lot of money, without being able to recover it.
"There was no notification of the money's reversal from the bank or the mobile money service provider. The money has simply disappeared. So people have to be careful,' said a Kenyan woman who fell victim to this fraudulent scheme in Nairobi on kenyans.co.ke site.
Be very careful!