Tinder swindlers target naïve Nyeri polytechnic female students
Kimathi Street, the main street in Nyeri town.
Tinder swindlers target naïve Nyeri polytechnic female students
In the pursuit of love, people wish they could meet someone at the gas station, grocery or social joints.
But nowadays, dating sites are becoming the less tedious way of finding love.
Be it on dating sites or whichever place you meet someone, in modern dating, some people are looking for love and marriage or casual relationships, but others have ulterior motives.
Velma (not her real name), from Nyeri town, joined the Tinder dating app with the hope of finding the love of her life.
After a period of swiping left and right, she finally found a match.
As the site links you with potential matches within your radius, she heaved a sigh of relief as her match was from Karatina, which is not far from Nyeri.
After three weeks of conversation, they finally settled on September 18 to be their first date.
However, her match arrived late and Velma mulled cancelling the date, but he insisted that he wanted to see her.
He arrived in Nyeri town at 8pm, which gave Velma second thoughts, but again claiming that he was eager to see her, he offered to pick her up from her apartment in Kamakia estate.
In their 10 minute-drive to town, Velma realised that the car doors were on child lock, which means she could not escape if her match became hostile, but she brushed off the thought.
They settled for a restaurant and they ordered food. Her date then went to get drinks as they waited for their food.
Everything seemed normal, until her date started making incessant phone calls. One minute he was out and when he came back, he borrowed her phone, claiming that his battery was running low.
The second time he left the table, he was gone for good! What was meant to be a sweet romantic date turned sour as Velma lost her phone and she still had to pay for the meals.
On August 31, a similar case was reported at the Nyeri police station, where a lady was conned of her mobile phone on her first date with a man.
The suspect was seen on surveillance footage making a phone call and finally disappearing with her phone.
Six women from Nyeri polytechnic also lost their phones in what was called a romantic surprise for one of their friends.
According to a report made to the police, the suspect approached one of the women, Lisa (not her real name) and claimed that he had liked one of them and would like to take them out just to surprise her.
Out of excitement, she mobilised her friends for the date. They were taken to a fast-food restaurant in Nyeri town and as usual, the man ordered meals for them.
He then signalled to Lisa and told her that it was time for them to go to the store, and get a surprise for their friend.
Since it was supposed to be a surprise, she should collect all her friends’ phones as he did not want them to communicate and ruin it.
Lisa, who by this time was ‘blinded’ by the events, did as instructed and they both headed to the stores, leaving her friends enjoying the meal.
While at the store, the man asked to hold the phones as Lisa was supposed to pick and fit dresses for her friend.
As she was busy selecting a dress for her friend, the suspect left with all their phones, in this case again, leaving them to foot the restaurant bill.
Cases of women in Nyeri and its environs being conned in the name of love, police say, are on the rise, with most victims failing to report due to the ‘shame’ associated with it.
The police said that it is challenging for them to track down the suspects as the victims do not have any background information on the suspects because even if it is online people can lie about their identity.
They also pointed out that the victims do not normally follow up on the cases even after reporting them.
Police have noted that people like to associate this with being drugged or being charmed but they said there is no such thing as being charmed because these people just play a little with one’s psychology as the victims are focused on finding love.
Nyeri County Police Commander Steve Oloo called on ‘lovers’ to be cautious.
He warned that “the moment your date, who is apparently supposed to be focused on knowing you on your first date, starts to be busy on phone calls, that should be a sign that they have ulterior motives”.
“Because who even goes on their first date with a low-battery phone?” he asked.
He said both men and women have been caught up in the ‘love’ con rackets.
He gave the example of several women who were arrested after luring some men to their house in a local estate and robbing them.
