A number of prisoners at Kamiti Maximum Prison found a way of making a living by conning unsuspecting Kenyans and even foreigners through mobile phones.
Because of the free method of making millions, some of them prefer to be locked in the facility to being set free.
In an expose by Citizen TV, dubbed Kamiti Call Center, it was established that the prisoners have a specific place that they conduct the business inside the prison.
The business usually goes on in block A and those suspected to be betrayers or have no business in the secluded section are not allowed to join the fraudsters.
In the feature story, Citizen TV’s informant who was not identified for obvious reasons narrated how they undertake the activities.
“I draft a good message and send it to about 1000 numbers at ago, you may start with 0720… and finish all the remaining then go to 0721…22,23,24, just how the numbers follow each other. You just try whether the person is alive or dead,” the source revealed.
The model of phone that is used, is a common button phone that is able to handle three simcards at ago and has a feature of manipulating one’s voice into a woman, man or child. The informant say that they collude with rogue police officers to get the phones and simcards.
The expert in the business was identified as David Tett, who is a foster son of former assistant minister Betty Tett.
Betty served as an assistant minister for local government during retired president Mwai Kibaki’s era and adopted David after the death of his mother, who was her sister.
David is serving a 15-year jail term in Kamiti for violently robbing his foster father William Tett back in 2011. He was sentenced to death time but his sentence was later reduced to 15 years after a successful appeal.
The convict is said to be conning Africans even by changing his voice to fit that of a British accent.
“He pretends to be interested in African women and women are the same, maybe she does not know English but just gets satisfied with the way he talks, and falls for him, so they communicate romantically for like one week, the lady insists that he comes but he says he is in Lodwar,” the source said.
In a bid to swindle money from the unsuspecting woman, the fraudster claims that he is stuck at the petrol station because he does not have cash money, and only credit cards yet they do not have ATMs. That will even be confirmed by another person(Kamiti inmate) who poses as a petrol station attendant.
“This guy has a range rover and we filled fuel worth Kshs8000 so when it came to payment instead of him paying Cash, he gives us Mastercard and we don’t have the machine for withdrawing cash,” the alleged attendant would say.
For those interested in having a relationship with foreigners, they would easily fall for the trick and once she/he sends the money, they can’t reach the fraudster immediately.
RELATED STORY:Former Kamiti Detainee Narrates How Homosexuality Is Rife There, Men Marrying Men In Elaborate Ceremonies
Â
Â
Â
Â
