This archive report was first published on 26 October 2019.
Published on October 26, 2019, a tragic incident in Homa Bay has highlighted the need for increased awareness about mobile phone scams.
A 24-year-old farmhand, Dickson Otieno, took his life in his Kasewe sub-location, Rachuonyo East sub-county after being conned of his Sh3,000 salary through a fake M-PESA transaction.
According to reports, Otieno had received a pseudo SMS from the swindlers that he had won Sh75,000. A caller posing as a Safaricom official called the deceased and directed him to send Sh3,000 as facilitation fees to process the win.
Armed with his whole month's salary, Otieno quickly wired the money to the caller, only to realize later that he had been conned. The caller went offline immediately after receiving the money.
Realizing that he had been deceived, Otieno retreated to his house, locked himself in, and took his life.
Area Assistant Chief, Hesbon Asero, has appealed to locals to be cautious when handling calls from strangers and to report such occurrences to the police before sending any money.
“There are scammers all over, so people must be careful when handling calls from strangers. There is no way one would win in a promotion you never entered in the first place,” said Asero.
