Artist Esther Akoth alias Akothee has revealed that she was conned last week by people impersonating officers from the Kenya Forestry Service.
In a post shared through her Facebook page, Akothee claimed that the imposters called her pretending to be officers from KFS, wanting to donate timber to her charity organisation, Akothee Foundation.
However, as a condition to deliver the 6,000 feet of timber, the caller who identified himself as Mr Dickson demanded that the musician caters for transportation.
“Last week we received an email claiming to have come from Kenya Firest wanting to donate 6000 ft of Timber to Akothee Foundation. The gentleman by the name Mr Dickson claiming to be the one on the photo calling the company with the cell phone 0789488866, insisted that the timber be delivered with immediate effect, he then asked if we shall cater for transportation, but we said, we can’t at the moment then they will have to wait (sic),” Akothee wrote.
“He then sent us these photos to confirm that the timber has been loaded and that his boss is waiting for us to fuel the lorry for the timber to be delivered. He said how much he loves to give back to the community and that he loves the work that I do. He had insisted to meet and talk to me directly since I am the founder of the Foundation,” she further explains.
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Overwhelmed by ‘Mr Dickson’s’ calls, Akothee bulged and decided to fuel the lorry for the timber to be delivered. Unknown to her, it was hot air, or maybe, a wild goose chase.
“I got concerned with the several calls this Mr Dickson made harassing us to deliver the Timber. So we asked them to head to a petrol station to fuel the lorry and send us the pay bill. They then sent the pay bill of 909579 shell jubilee service station. We paid Ksh5,000 to the pay bill. The number of the lorry driver was 0711734611,” she adds.
“Since 5th November we waited for the lorry to arrive at the Akothee Foundation warehouse until today. Its been in vain. I have called Mr Julius of Kenya Forestry (Service) and he has confirmed to me that several people including me have been conned and the profile picture the guy is using is not his, but an innocent officer’s. Well, be very aware the market is congested,” Akothee said.
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