Harrison Bagwasi never thought he would ever board a plane, let alone fly out of the country.
But on March 13, 2025, he was in a Boeing aircraft headed for Mauritius. As if that wasn't exciting enough, he would soon be working for a five-star hotel in the country–two dreams for the price of one.
Mauritius is a visa-free country, so his exit from Kenya and entry into the island nation were not a problem.
However, trouble began when he landed. The agents who were supposed to direct Bagwasi to his new workplace started an endless cat-and-mouse game.
Harrison Bagwasi during an interview at Nation Centre in Nairobi on March 25, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“In Mauritius, I was welcomed by a Nigerian who was linked up to me by Kamunge. We boarded a taxi and headed to some joint where he bought me a meal as we kept on sharing about life in Kenya,” said Bagwasi.
He's referring to Maria Kamunge, a social media personality better known as Rish, who is also the director of Trust Pin Verified Agency Ltd, a jobs firm Bagwasi believed was taking him to the promised land.
Maria Kamunge, a social media personality better known as Rish Kamunge.
Photo credit: Pool
After the meal, the Nigerian, who only identified himself as Colonel, asked Bagwasi to follow him.
“He took me to a big hall that had been sub-divided into several rooms. He told me that he was willing to hand me his room for the night until the next day,” Bagwasi said.
When Bagwasi retired to bed, the Nigerian man left in the company of an unidentified woman.
He said he could not sleep because of the excitement of a new job in an island paradise, where he would interact with several tourists.
The following morning, Bagwasi met “Colonel” at the same restaurant where they had dinner the previous evening.
Then the Nigerian dropped a bombshell: there were no hotelier jobs. However, he offered, Bagwasi could take up a construction job that was available.
“He also told me that he would not be willing to give me his room to sleep in again as he was expecting a visitor,” said Bagwasi.
On the evening of March 14, 2025, “Colonel” told Bagwasi to go back to Kenya since he was unwilling to take up the construction job.
Bagwasi obliged but requested help with accommodation for that night. He was linked up with another Nigerian national.
“I slept there that night and interestingly made friends with several Kenyans that I met there. The kind of life they lead was not what I wanted and I opted to take the next flight to Nairobi,” he said.
He used the little money he had left, called his sister to request a top-up, and bought a flight ticket back home.
Bagwasi was lucky, as three other Kenyans who could not afford air tickets back were deported after Trust Pin Verified Agency Ltd failed to come through with promised jobs.
Emmanuel Otieno, Michael Okello, and Josephat Sagwe were bundled into the back seats of an aircraft headed for Nairobi. Their deportation will affect any plans to travel out of Kenya.
They are among hundreds of victims who parted with millions thinking that Trust Pin Verified Agency Ltd could secure their jobs overseas.
With hopes dashed, shock, embarrassment and anger are now the order of the day.
They are now jobless and penniless, regretting the visit last year to Trust Pin Verified Agency Ltd, located in the Biashara Building in Nairobi.
Some were stranded in Mauritius after being promised that their jobs were ready and waiting for them to arrive.
On Monday, they reported the matter to the Central police station in Nairobi, and their incident was recorded as 96/24/03/2024 in the Occurrence Book.
Nairobi Central Sub-County Commander Stephen Okal has asked victims to go to the police station and record statements to aid ongoing investigations into the Trust Pin Verified Agency.
“Investigations into the matter have kicked off and we are now looking forward to recording more statements. We ask more victims to come forward and share their experiences,” Okal said.
For Cynthia Atieno, a TikTok ad by Trust Pin Verified Agency tricked her into breaking a vow never to work abroad again.
Cynthia Atieno Okoth during an interview at Nation Centre in Nairobi on March 25, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
Atieno had arrived from the Gulf in 2022, and mistreatment there led her to make the vow.
In July 2024, she paid a deposit of Sh200,000 to Trust Pin Verified Agency, knowing that she had secured a house manager position in Poland.
“I really hated the idea of leaving Kenya again to seek greener pastures but with the kind of promise that came with Trust Pin Verified Agency I would not think twice,” she said in an interview.
Three months later, the company was still silent. When she reached out, the agency asked her to pick another country as there was no vacancy in Poland.
“Days later, they issued me with a tourist visa, not a work visa as expected. When I questioned them, they told me that they knew how things worked and that I should present myself at the Luxembourg Embassy in Westlands,” she said.
When Atieno scrutinised the documents she had been given by the agents, the personal details attributed to her were starkly different from what she had given them.
The agents claimed that the Luxembourg Embassy is never keen on the details in visa application documents, and only monitored one’s courage and confidence.
Atieno was late for the visa interview as she desperately tried to correct personal details in the documents. She says the Embassy fined her Sh8,000 for tardiness.
“Even after that whole struggle, at the Embassy my results were that they were not sure whether I would come back once I leave Kenya for Luxembourg,” she said.
Her refund demands to the Trust Pin Verified Agency, Atieno claims, fell on deaf ears. She holds that she was once physically assaulted and kicked out of the agency’s offices.
“I was manhandled as I wailed demanding my money. This was the only money I had from the savings I made while working at Gulf,” she said.
“All I wanted was money to take care of my wife, our child in Junior Secondary School, and my two sons in university,” Mr Kisangani said.
The ex-Kenya Pipeline employee learned about Trust Pin Verified Agency through social media and hoped he would get a driving job abroad.
Mr Kisangani travelled from his Matunda home in Trans Nzoia county to Nairobi in February 2024 to meet the recruitment agents.
He paid the quoted Sh240,000, which was raised from friends and neighbours, and then chose Canada as his preferred country of work.
“I did not want to link any of my sons in university to this because I wanted them to finish school and get jobs. The money that I would have gotten from my job as a driver would have continued paying their school fees,” he said.
He was later told that Trust Pin Verified Agency only had openings in Mauritius, which was agreeable to the 48-year-old father of three.
He is one of the many victims still paying visits to Trust Pin Verified Agency offices in the hope of getting a refund.
Kamunge: 'There's no scam'
Kamunge has denied defrauding them instead pushing the blame to her associates in Kenya for transporting people to Mauritius without her permission.
“I would like to disagree with you that we have links to many jobs. The only challenge that came is that my agents back in Kenya never listened when I told them not to send people to Mauritius as all the vacancies had been filled,” she told the Nation .
“We do not refuse to refund clients. All we ask for is some time, like 30 days, before the refund is made,” she added.
