Nairobi is a concrete jungle. And now, the conmen have also upped their game.

They will grift you out of your hard-earned money if you are not careful.

Most of the times, they will give a good deal that is tooooooo good to be true.

A city man took to social media to recount his tale.

Read and learn...

This happened to me a few months ago: I want to change my sofa, so I log onto OLX (Jiji) to find a budget bargain. I spot some very nice sets that are going for a considerably fair price. To be exact, seats that I have seen going for 60-70k, this guy is selling at 45k or so.

So I think to myself, it makes sense. I call up the guy and we talk and I settle on a set. He agrees, after much resistance, to discount 2k – so I am to pay him 43k.

The deal is, he delivers the sofa, and I only pay after the sofa has come. He even says, "let them help you get it into the house first, then you send me the money." This somehow gives me some confidence in this whole online buying.

I give him my location and he tells me he is sending his transport guys. Indeed, in like an hour or less, they are at my estate, in a pick-up and the sofa loaded on the back.

The moment they arrive, they call him and he immediately calls me back, asks if I have seen the chair. I am inspecting the sofa – it is good! So he tells me that his guys will help me get the set into the house. Meanwhile, I can now send him the money so he can attend to other matters that he has kept on hold for my sake.

THAT IS THE TRICK!! This guy has no seat to sell. He goes to FB sale groups, picks some items and reposts them on OLX at a lower price to lure you.

When you call him, he in turn calls the seller and pretends that he is transacting on behalf of his brother or friend (now you are the brother or friend).

So he tells them to deliver the seat to you, and you will pay them. When they deliver, he asks you to send the money, and leaves you with the rightful owners of the item, whom you have not paid!! Of course, his phone will go off and the money will have been withdrawn by the time you realize you are conned. And we both know; the guys will not leave their seat – you are conned!

I was lucky that when the driver came, we started a very intimate chat in Kikuyu, and so he was wise enough to pick up some anomaly. He had gotten from the accent of the con that he was Luo, so he asked me if that guy is really my brother.

That is where we connected the dots. Actually the best price of the set was 68k. I called the guy and asked him why he wanted to con me. He called me all sorts of names and switched off his phone.

Buyer Beware!

Update: Guy's Number: 0702 728492

Truecaller ID: Derrick Wendo

Used Alias: Jack.