Do not fall for these scams. Easy money is a myth.
You do not need to learn the hard way because when it comes to ‘easy’ money scams history has very clear lessons.
Key Takeaways
- If you are being promised easy money, you are likely being taken advantage of.
- Several scams show that easy money is a way to get regular people to be money mules.
- If you are not being made a money mule, they are targeting your hard-earned cash.
- Most successful business investments generate modest profits (not insane figures).
- Seek the services of a financial advisor before investing in anything.
The Instagrammer promising Kshs. 500,000 in a day
Some time ago, a woman named Kayla Massa was arrested by the FBI for scamming people on Instagram over Kshs. 150 million.
How did she do it?
The usual social media allure of fast money and fame. She posted very admirable photos on her Instagram page with physical money, very high CashApp balances (the U.S. version of M-Pesa), luxury cars, and everything else that comes with a good life.
This is how she attracted her victims.
Kayla would then ask those interested in quick money to message her privately.
She would proceed to meet them in person and ask to use their bank account and debit card for a day or two in exchange for Kshs. 500,000 being deposited into their account within those days.
Her trick was that she would steal money orders (a money order is a form of payment like a check but works a bit differently), generate fake ones based on the real ones that she stole, deposit these fakes with the victim’s bank (by filling in the victim’s details on the fake money order) then she would use the victim’s credit card (after the deposit from the fake money order had reflected in the victim’s account) to go buy real money orders for herself.
If a money order that she stole was for Kshs. 100,000 (1,000 USD) she would end up making the same amount – Kshs. 100,000 – and leave the victim with a debt of a similar amount – Kshs. 100,000.
The debt would be because the bank would detect the money order was fake and thus deduct it from the victim’s account.
The infamous Kenyan Scammer on Twitter
There is a similar story in Kenya where a lady famously known on Twitter by #KOT as Kibanda Bae or @nanciesonnie used victims’ accounts to transact fraudulently acquired millions from Equity Bank Kenya.
At the time of the con, she was residing in Roysambu and her victims were young impressionable men who were mainly attracted by her good looks.
Kibanda Bae simply asked a victim if they would mind her receiving money via their bank account (usually with a phony excuse of her account having some issues) in exchange for them keeping a percentage of the money.
In the end, her actions saw a whole lot of young guys end up at the DCI headquarters being questioned about banking fraud.
The Guy on Facebook promising you Kshs. 20,000 A Week
Ardent Facebook users have at least once or twice come across posts of someone promising a ridiculous amount of money per week for working from your phone. Sometimes it’s Kshs. 5,000, or Kshs. 7,000 or even Kshs. 20,000.
Obviously, the reason these scams are popular is that people easily fall for them.
We are all at different levels of intelligence and therefore the only difference between those getting conned and those avoiding it is the level of sophistication of the scam.
Remember Public Likes?
The Nigerian pyramid that spread like a wave on social media in Kenya and disappeared with millions of victims’ money? That is a bit of a sophisticated scam that defrauded a lot of people who thought they were too smart.
Several other online scams have happened ever since including the case of Velox 10 Global and Nurucoin. Velox-10 Global, founded by a Brazilian, came to Kenya and convinced people to invest in digital cryptocurrencies only to disappear with the money later.
They were asking for a Kshs 10,000 membership for an opportunity to invest and earn supernormal profits. Membership could also be upgraded with Kshs. 20,000 for earnings of around Kshs. 400,000 daily.
A lot of millionaires sank their money there.
Nurucoin launched around 2018 with a promise of being the next currency of Africa. Even after using the multi-level marketing model, people were still gullible enough to invest their savings in the company.
The inevitable collapse of the firm led to losses amounting to Kshs. 2.7 billion with victims in Murang’a, Kitengela, Machakos, Nyeri, Meru, Nakuru, and Kericho.
Easy money is a myth
The common thing in all these stories is that there is nothing like overnight riches. Earning a decent income is a combination of hard work, consistency, and good luck.
A good question to ask yourself is that if investment firms like Cytonn and Centum offer average of 10% returns on investment per year why is a person promising 30% or even more per day? What exactly are they investing in that generates such high profits?
Also, if there was such a good opportunity to make money, why is the stranger on Facebook offering you the chance as opposed to sharing it with their friends and families?
The main lesson here should be that if the returns from the investment you are about to make are higher than normal (normal being the average market rates – around 20%) then verify the investment several times.
Also, ask someone else – preferably a financial advisor – to help you verify the legitimacy.
