Random thoughts: How to Identify a crook in Nairobi

Piece by: Random Like Arum
Entertainment

Nairobi has its share of conmen, scammers, crooks or even fraudsters who can swindle you off your hard earned cash in a whiff. These characters are very predictable in how they operate on a day to day basis and with these few tips, it will be easy to spot them.

1. They never publicly talk about their business.

Legitimate business people are often open about their work. In fact, they actively seek to market their business to potential clients. People who are engaged in illegal activities are often secretive and will resort to statements like “Our partners don’t want us to divulge in our businesses”. They often have businesses that nobody knows about.

2. They seem to be always at the club and spend loads of money on alcohol.

Operating a business is hard work and it often demands you to be in top shape mentally and physically. It's amazing how scammers and conmen spend a random Monday at a club throwing loads of cash around and drinking by the bottle.

3. Are very flashy and insecure.

“Easy money is spent stupidly”. Most of these individuals will try their best to appear super flashy and wealthy. Glamorous Instagram pages with wealth or inspirational quote captions, bundles of money or jewelry and flashy vehicles. You get the feeling that they have a point to prove and seek a lot of validation from strangers so that they can seem like they have made it. Beating the system really does something to your ego I guess. These individuals tend to live a very insecure life and are the type to always have a weapon which they aren’t shy to brandish whenever slightly provoked.

4. They mostly target very young girls, preferably those still in University.

Back when I was at Uni, there used to be a running joke that if you break up with your girl on Thursday, on Friday some random rich guy will be forcing Hennesy down her throat. I don’t really know why they like young girls but my guess is that these won’t ask questions or try to keep them accountable. They are probably easier to manipulate with the money or image.

5. They are pathological liars.

People of this character often tell contradictory stories about their past. You really don’t know much about them and they aren’t willing to be open about it. Vagueness is in all their language “I own several businesses”, “I worked really hard to get here...”, “I do a lot for the community...” and other statements that really don’t go in to concrete details.

Your local scammer probably has been in the papers severally and is referred to as ‘Controversial businessman’. They probably own flashy jewelry and clothing, they probably cause a lot of commotion when they get to your bar, they probably live in a posh apartment in the suburbs and are rarely seen operating during the day and have probably given themselves an egotistical nickname that makes them look bigger than they actually are!