Thread by @paushinski

#IKnowAGuy
Season II
Episode 2 (A) of 4.
_.

This lady, Makena*, she gets a call. It's her friend, Joy*, same Chama.

She's calling with udaku, but the udaku just the first step. By the time they are done with her, they will have her 7 Million Shillings.
_.
#TheCleaners
#AThread

‘Hi Makena…’

Followed by pleasantries, tiny gossip and the vain praise you love to hear about yourself. About how good you are, or how much you have been missed or how much you have helped them.

Joy is a fixer. Her role in the scam is to bring you to a planned meeting. Thazit.

‘By the way, can we meet? I can buy you coffee. There’s something I want to tell you.’

And since our ears always want to be told things, Makena automatically says yes.

The meeting is held at a high end restaurant in Valley Arcade. Just Joy and Makena. Time is agreed and kept.

At the meeting, the pleasantries continue.

Aki umelost. Ehe? Niambie. Aki wewe. And the fake ‘Hahaha! Angalia hiki!’

She says, 'We are managing.'

And then Joy switches to the main game. The real game. Please note, Makena has known Joy for a long time and would vouch for her.

Also Makena is a high flyer from a highflying family, and with highflying business connections.

Joy tells her there is a high level networking group for people in a certain league of professionals. She explains what they do, when they meet etc.

'If you ask me, this is for you.'

Makena says she has never heard of them, and she is really not interested.

Joy engages gear two: 'I know you are not there yet but si we are working with faith. Imagine utafika hapo soon by faith. Me the way you have helped me, I just want the best for you.

She hesitates a bit.

The Joy says, ‘Ok. Wewe kuja ucheki, if you like it, sawa. If you don’t, sawa pia. I just know it's something that'll work for you. You'll be grateful.’

She isn’t sure but that’s a better option. Alafu Joy seals it, ‘It is 2,500pp, but I'll pay for you. You'd do the same for me.

Makena is sold, but she goes in on tough conditions. She isn't recruiting anyone, she isn't buying Organo Gold, buying land in Konza or hawking cosmetics. And most def, she won't sell holidays with banners saying people should be some other place than where they currently are.

Meeting is on a Friday at a hotel on Denis Pritt Rd. Dinner is all set up, a little over 100 people. There’s eating, drinking, piped music and chit chat.

Soon a guy goes on stage and sells the vision. They are a professionals working to better themselves and their families.

They have been together for 2 years, and are looking at building smaller satellite chapters. They have studied how it is done elsewhere in South Africa, India and North America, and they believe it will work for them.

And then…

They believe in the Kingdom Business Mentality.

Kingdom Business Mentality is where people are mandated them to create wealth for a better [nation]. They do not own wealth, but are just custodians.

In fact, they are peers, and unlike in other parts of the world where people pay to join such clubs, they will not charge a dime.

But they are taking a limited number on sign ups that night, until after a year.

They also bring up a few guys who 'missed' being on the Top 100 Business by a ‘whisker’, but have every intention of getting there next year, if the support of this networking group does not stop.

But even if it does, they are sure they have a good brand now, thanks to being a member of the group.

The role of the group is to look out for, and seek opportunities for members. Period. Oh, and where possible, to support members with resources to secure the business.

Si ndio?

Makena signs up to see where this would lead.

Please note: SHE'S BEEN PROFILED.

Her and others, are not here by choice. It’s by design. Her group has 3 extractors. Everyone who spoke at the dinner is in the scam.

The extractors are also in all the other groups.

It's Game On.

The first thing that happened is that Joy has to drops off the network for personal reasons.

Makena is put in a chapter with these 3 guys, who are mandated to clean her out a good one.

First meeting is a business breakfast, 7:00am sharp. Everyone does detailed introductions.

And then people talk about work and billings and then at the end of the meeting, someone shares a list of government tenders and other stuff from the newspapers and random pages, Whatsapp groups or links in officesetc.

And then people start bringing their problems to the table.

The Extractor are Harry, James and Gibson. They are clean, suits, watches, phones… the works.

They always cab or are dropped. They dine in 5 stars, with high and mighty, and have the same circle of friends.

Harry starts. He is chasing payments from ati sijui ministry of what.

He is wondering if anyone has a connection.

Enter James, the main extractor assigned to Makena. James comes with a whole sermon about how Harry should talk to Gibson. Because he supplied sijui what cars and tractors for sijui which project and they delayed with their payments.

But he spoke to Gibson who helped him get paid.

Gibson asks for details and Harry says quite a bit of words and drops IMF & World Bank & UN into the story. Gibson says he will make a call. He also explains how gava works etc. He assures him he will have his cash within a week.

At the next meeting, Harry will thank Gibson for the help, he will give him 20K openly.

It's the game, my peoples.

The meeting ends with people asking if anyone has any work they can sukumia the group. Of course the 3 sukumia each other business in 10 or 20k.

The targets in the group float a few thousand worth of business. Mara design of business cards and posters, courier services, supply of cereals etc.

They share numbers then disbands.

A couple of days go, James calls asking if Makena's agency can work on a tender his boy has.

Of course, perfectly within the business. They meet, James comes with a fake brief and a draft proposal and how it can be done.

They do dinner. The guy pays. Perfect gentleman. They get to know each other.

Ze boss sends people to work. And people work on the brief a good one.

They do a few more dinners and dates and the man impresses the woman. A few more months of the guy pushing the work, while dating the woman on the side.

Then comes the cleaning. James borrows KE 10,000.00, to pay in a week. Boss lady is wary but she is too emotionally involved.

She lends him shingo upande.

The guy pays back. The same day. Akatuma mpaka ya kutoa. He says some work he did paid and he didn’t even know the cash had hit the account.

Dating continues. And small small business for people to stand at doors during events, T Shirt branding etc.

But the main job is chilling.

He borrows another KE 20,00.00, to be paid in a week. It is paid in 2 days. And it is paid with dinner, or drinks, or just a solid hangout. Next time he borrows KE 20,000.00, KE 50,000.00, KE 10,000.00 and KE 15,000.00 .

He never defaults payment.

In total James borrows more than 400K. And returned it all even before expiry date.

Meanwhile a chic is missing all the red flags.

The guy keeps changing cars & moving houses. She even once tells him stuff like, the house is too big you can stay here. Which he quickly declined.

Sometimes his phone is off for days, or changes numbers, comes to 'hide' etc.

Also all these monies he's being paid is tied up somewhere, or it was a deal between me & nani, or he's waiting for his cut. He has no actual business.

All he does is borrow, pay, buy dinner & drinks.

Mara he's in Dubai, London, Jo’burg! Brings perfumes and gifts for her. He dresses and smells nice and says he owns a BMW. She never saw that car.

His mortgage is giving him shidas but he'll sort it out himself, and besides, his dad wants him to sell that for another project.

Makena says he wants to meet his family but he says, 'She was so involved with her ex and brought her home and she still cheated on him and left him after lying to him it was their baby only for her to come out saying it was not and he went into depression and etc. I'm not ready.

Her sisters and close friends were like ‘this guy… arronoo. Something is not adding up.’

Finally, like 8 months into it, after just refunding 50K, and dining on Mombasa road overlooking the National Park, the guy comes with two sets of documents.

It's the final play.

The first one, he had won the tender they first met for. So it is 'actual' work now.

The second one, he says, 'I need a huge favor. I just need a guarantor.' The work needs accounts statements with 15 Million at least. But he only has 2M. Can she okolea him with documents pekee.

Si they are in this together? She weighs the matter and gives in.

Monday, James brings account details from the bank on Kenyatta Avenue and boss lady brings hers. But she only has 5M. Which is ok. The guy says he will look for someone with 7M.

He tafutas the whole day, nothing.

James then engages the man tears for borrowing cash.

Then he proceeds to defend his recent thesis on ‘THIS IS THE ONE DEAL I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR TO FINALLY SETTLE DOWN… WITH YOU!’

He even drops a brochure of wedding rings in her presence and picks it up after she’d seen it.

Babygal tells him, ‘I can try & borrow 2M into this account, and get the statement for you, and then after the LPO is out, I can take it back.'

James accepts and rewards her with a lovely dinner and other things. She actually believes that’s the night she could have caught him.

2 days later, fresh statement comes with KE 8,500,000.00.

So homeboy is grateful, but is wondering, where is this extra 3.5M from?

Anyway, he brings her 2 more businesses’ bank statements from Harry, 2,500,000.00 and Gibson, KE 2,000,000.00.

By weekend, he has a signed ‘PO.’

It's from ‘ze kafmend’ with a deal of huko KE 75M plus. And then he disappears. For like a week. He is out in the counties somewhere making sure things go according to plan. He comes back, they have a date, and then he is out again. Only sending pictures of building projects etc.

Please note, these guys have been spending all the networking meetings convincing their targets that they can get money from gava.

Also note, she is not the only target.

So the week of the cleaning comes.

The guy comes and says, he is chasing some cash. KE 7M to be precise.

4M to finish the work, about 3M to get someone to sign certificate of completion the 75M itoke. ‘Check imeshaandikwa. You will get it in 7 days. And besides, the cash is all ours.’

Chic is like me I don’t have 7M.

But si you remember she had been conditioned by the payments.

The guy never ever defaulted or paid her late.
‘How much can you saidia me with? Aki all my cash is held up elsewhere.’

She says she only has savings of about 2M, and maybe an overdraft of 1M but from the business. But that’s all she has. Master is like, ‘Sawa. Wewe leta hiyo.’

He makes phone calls and somebody tells him, if you come with KE 3,500,000.00 and log book or title deed, I will release the cash other cash. He pretends to tafuta , and then comes back to the chic.

‘Babe, pls saidia me with the cash & logbook. Aki before gava closes accounts.'

'If we don't get that cash before end of weel, all cash is going back to treasury and we wont afford that wedding.’

She thinks about it for a few hours. Finally she brings the logbook, and transfers the money, topping it up from the agency. Please, people's saloz about to delay.

Logbook is taken to a ‘Shylock.’ But at the Shylock, the man says, ‘Siku hizi lazima nione gari.’

He goes back to her, and somehow convinces her. Shortly the car is at the Shylocks garage.

The Shylock insists, Makena must sign off the loan to her name. It's her car, anyway.

'Shylock is like, I will want the money from you. Sawa?'

She is game.

_.

James buys Makena dinner. Makena's has lost her appetite. She just stares at him. He thinks he's been caught. He takes her home. They go to sleep.

The next day, the guy disappears.

For good.

Almost.

One week later, no word from the guy.

10 days later nothing.

On the fourteenth day, she wakes up in the middle of the night. Anxiety attack. Sweating and all. It’s a nightmare. She is screaming but no sound is coming out. It’s hit her real hard.

‘Oh crap. I’ve been conned.‘

Faster faster, in the middle of the night, she calls her bro and they drive to Langata Road. They stand at the yard where the car should be, but there are no cars. It’s open. Siete.

She breaks down.

Early next morning, she dashes to report to the police station and reports.

They start talk to the other networking guys, nothing on James has come through. But other reports are coming. Some guys have lent 10,20,30, the most being 200.

The it's confirmed that they have been conned a good one. And they are not the first. These cases are many, everyday.

But for Makena, it’s a bit more complicated coz she has been sleeping with James for months now. James also has her videos and picture.

Please remember, she is a high flyer from a very highflying family. The risk for them is, 'So this is how your family has been doing business?'

The cops tell her they will investigate and try and track the guy.

Everything he told her was fake. They even went to the places he said he hanged out. Nobody knows any James last name.

The Shylock, insists he doesn't know James, and that he did LEGIT business with Makena.

A month later, no car, no trace of the money, no trace of James.

She keeps going to authorities. Her family is trying to help.

They get P.I.s who are making leads but she has to wait.

Her hands are tied, coz she runs an agency but gave cash for a bribe to facilitate payments.

Depression nini nini.

Makena's dad offers to get the car back for her because the debt is accruing, and he asks her to forget the money, and let the cops do their job.

It is better, at least. Things settle.

She goes away for two weeks, then comes back focused on the business.

They got her.
_.

Another two months, she embarrassingly tells a friend what cut, and the friend says, 'Ai. Anyway, #IKnowAGuy.'

She isn't sure whether to pursue anymore, but what more can she lose. She agrees and her pal calls the guy and arranges the meeting.

The guy is a Otero.

They meet at a coffee shop on Lenana Road. She explains the whole drama and why it is critical that the story never gets out.

Although, she has the car, she's convinced that the Shylock knows James, and he may have taken advantage and ripped her family off.

She's convinced the cash maybe lost.

The guy says he is specifically trained to find these kinds of guys. They agree a price. He says he can find the guy, but once he finds him, she has to go to the cops so that they arrest him. She can then charge him in court.

Makena agrees.

Exactly 3 weeks later, Makena came face to face with five guys accused of conning her at the law courts. The five guys were Joy, he pal, Harry, James, Gibson and Mr. Shylock.

And although the courts released them, 3 weeks later, she had all the money from James & Shylock back.

[To be continued...]

#IKnowAGuy
Season II
The Cleaners.
Episode 2 (B) of 4, sometime next week.
#TheCleaners
_
Remember to follow. Donge?

Here is the link to The Cleaners Thread, Part 2 of Episode 2.

#IKnowAGuy
Season II
The Cleaners.
Episode 2 (B) of 4, sometime next week.
#TheCleaners

https://twitter.com/paushinski/status/1224058420980076544