Monday, November 4,
2024 – Notorious ‘Pata Potea’ con artists who camp along Nakuru’s Kenyatta
Avenue were chased away by irate members of the public and their items
destroyed, following endless complaints from people who have fallen victim
to the con games.
They had been stationing themselves opposite a popular
supermarket, drawing crowds with promises of winning gifts that included
household items.
According to Isabella Akinyi who fell victim to the con
games, she was out and about heading to the market in the city when, out of
curiosity, she approached a multi-colored tent set up with various household
goods.
“Once inside, I was handed an orange card and told to keep it confidential,”
Akinyi recalls.
“The operators would then call out specific numbers,
declaring winners in front of the growing crowd. “Number so-and-so, come
forward! You’re our winner!” they would announce, creating an illusion of
legitimate prize-giving.”
But as Akinyi would later learn, it was all an elaborate
scam designed to con people off their hard-earned money.
The operators called each participant forward individually for a card shuffling
game, where they were asked to carefully track specific cards among several
papers being moved around.
When it was Akinyi’s turn, she managed to pick the correct card and was
declared a winner.
Almost immediately, she found herself surrounded by four different operators
who began questioning her about having half the price money for the TV she had
“won.”
“The TV set at the tent was priced at Sh. 8,000, but they convinced me I could
take it home for half the price. I managed to bargain them down to Sh. 3,000.
When they agreed to this price, I paid the money,” Akinyi recalls.
Right after she paid, she says a different person from their group suddenly
appeared and claimed she hadn’t won the TV.
“When I tried to protest that I had won fair and square and had already paid,
an argument broke out. I was forced into playing another round of the game,”
Akinyi narrates.
“This time, they made it more complicated by adding extra shuffling cards,
making it impossible to follow. I ended up only ‘winning’ a basin instead of
the TV.”
Frustrated and realizing she had been conned, she left the tent.
Members of the public confronted the notorious con artists
after they got wind that rogue police officers were protecting them and chased
them away, before destroying their items.
Watch the video here Link>>
The Kenyan DAILY POST.
