A company by the name Infinity Youth Enterprises has conned people thousands of money by selling them fake phones.
People who have engaged with them are now crying foul after the phones they were sold at a market price for original phones, turned out to be fakes.
The phones are sold at exorbitant prices.
Many complaints have been forwarded to the editor of this site. So we took it upon ourselves to did deeper.
The scam we encountered is bigger than expected. International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) An IMEI number is a globally unique 15 digit number assigned to all cellular devices, which identifies your device within the mobile network. This number can be used to block a mobile phone from being used by another person or phone company if it has been lost or stolen. Kenya is putting itself in a grave security risk, by allowing the sale of fake phones in its territory, coupled with weak regulations on SIM card registration, opens Kenya to terrorism.
Terror groups and criminals often use unregistered mobile devices (mobile phone and SIM cards) to communicate, because this makes it them untraceable.
Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) whose mandate is combat counterfeiting, trade and other dealings in counterfeit goods, should really step up.
We hope the partnership between Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), a British funded entity and ACA will bear fruits.
In February, TMEA floated a tender titled 'Baseline Survey On Extent Of Illicit And Counterfeit Trade In Kenya', which seeks to collect data on counterfeit trade in Kenya with the aim of to digitising ACA services through the establishment of a range of both software and hardware solutions that will boost the capacity of the agency in discharging its mandate.
Infinity Youth Enterprises phones showed a different IMEI number from the one displayed at the back of the phone when customers were in for a rude shock when they verified by dialing #06# . At the end of February, employees of the company boycotted work citing arrests by Kenya Police for engaging in selling contraband goods. [See VIDEO at the end]
Here are some of the complaints we received from people who bought phones from Infinity Youth Enterprises: Complaint 1: Cyprian, I would like to report an incident today but prefer that my identity be concealed. I was conned Kes.26,000 which I paid through MPESA in the name of purchasing two phones that I had "won". The phones were supposedly sold at a discounted price of Kes.13,000 each but the retail price is Kes.30,000. I foolishly bought into the story and paid via MPESA to Infinity Youth Enterprises believing these are original phones. These are counterfeits as was confirmed to me by an authorized Safaricom dealer. This incident happened at Makadara grounds, Mombasa. What's amazing is these young men and women (uniformed) are duping gullible Kenyans selling fake gadgets in broad daylight in the name of having been employed by a fraudster. I will not get my money back but would like this highlighted on Social Media so that others become aware. I have reported the matter to Safaricom. The company has a PayBill number. On googling the Company name, this had been happening for a while...Help me report to the relevant authorities. Complaint 2 The owner of Infinity Youth Enterprises must be stopped. DCI Kinoti. Do your work. Complaint 3: Bought a fake Oppo F3 Plus (We received numerous such complaints) Complaint 4: IMEI Issue (IMEI number as shown on the box and the one that shows up after dialing #06# . Video: Workers Boycott Infinity Youth Enterprises.
[Click to see VIDEO ]