Small scale traders in Nakuru have been cautioned against falling prey to a group of people masquerading as officials of an international Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) ready to give out business loans.
The alleged fraudsters, who operate in a group of five; three men and a woman are said to be tricking unsuspecting business operators into registering at a fee of Sh500 with promise of being considered during the loan allocation.
Addressing traders gathered at the main stage within the Nakuru Central Business District (CBD) yesterday, Chairperson of the Nakuru street traders and hawkers association Simon Sangale called for patience saying that the matter was with the police.
“It’s very bad to trick a hard working citizen. This is criminal and I stand here to strongly condemn it,” he said.
He assured members that the matter would be pursued until a solution is found.
“As an association, we are going to ensure that anybody who has already fallen victim is refunded and the culprits brought to book,” he noted.
According to business operators, the group introduces themselves as officials from Sherwood Group International, an organisation working with small scale businesses by offering loans to see them grow.
“I was introduced by a friend who said that they promised her a Sh200,000 loan by December payable in 30months, only to come to realise later that I had been conned,” lamented Patricia Gobanga, who operates an eatery near the Nacho Square.
She says that the activities of the five became questionable after going silent with the first batch of the loans being expected on Friday July 24.
“Calls went unanswered for the better part of last week before being switched off on Tuesday, that’s when it dawned on us that we had been duped,” she said.
It’s estimated that more than 200 people have been conned by the group which has been secretly operating since March.
Mr Sangale asked operators to be on the lookout so as not to fall prey to such people.
In 2012, a pyramid scheme was brought to the limelight after it emerged that people had been tricked into depositing huge amounts of money into the scheme with an assurance that the amount would double up after some period of time.