Socialite Maureen Imbayi popularly known as Black Cinderella spent two days in custody after she was accused of conning a Nigerian national Sh540,000.
According to a a report filed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) police station on May 30, Imbayi was using her SnapChat account to dupe Nigerians living in Kenya that she was in a position to change Nairas to Kenyan Shillings.
‘Koko Send,’ a money exchange bureau targeting Nigerians had apparently entered into a partnership with Imbayi that made her their brand ambassador.
The socialite saw this as an opportunity and decided to extend the business to her social media pages asking clients to send her money directly.
To make her plan appear more believable, the socialite opened an account Wema Bank, a Nigerian lender.
According to the scheme, clients were supposed to deposit Nairas to Imbayi’s Wema Bank. She would then send them back an equivalent of the cash in Kenyan Shillings after deducting her commision.
With so many Nigerians especially fraudsters residing in Nairobi at the moment who would not want their financial transactions traced, Imbayi had plenty of customers.
By sending their money to a Nigerian bank account operated by Kenyan in Nairobi who would exchange their cash to Kenyan shillings, the Nigerians were simply making it difficult for Kenyan authorities to trace their financial transactions.
It was therefore a win win situation. For the Nigerians, they were getting Kenyan money in hard currency without using the Kenyan financial system to launder their cash.
What they did not know is that they were being scammed. Infact, the person they were sending money to was a Kenyan living in Utawala, Nairobi.
Imbayi would receive the money and disappear into thin air. Worse, they were sending their money to a Nigerian bank account, so there was a very little window for legal action in case they got scammed.
In one such transaction which we have seen and which is being used by the police as part of investigations Imbayi received 500,000 Naira from an Anthony Eworiajahe on May 29.
She was supposed to according to their agreement send Anthony Sh540,000 after exchanging the money. They had agreed on a commision of 5.4 percent.
After receiving the cash, Imbayi went silent like she had done to her other customers. Anthony tried to reach to her the whole of May 29 but was unsuccessful. When he finally managed to find her on phone, Imbayi insisted that she had not received the money.
“Yes that is my Nigerian account. I don’t know what is happening but I have asked someone then I will tell you,” she told Anthony in a recorded phone call that has now been submitted to the police before hanging up.
To further shake off her victim, Imbayi pretended that she was no longer in the country and had travelled to Lagos, Nigeria.
She posted a video on her Instagram Page showing her at JKIA with a caption that she was headed to Nigeria.
“We move regardless, let me go see my Tinubu boy,” she posted on Instagram on May 30.
Suspecting that he had been scammed, Anthony rushed to JKIA police station and filed a report against Imbayi using OB Number 12/30/05/2023.
Imbayi’s phone was immediately traced and police discovered that she was within Nairobi and had not travelled to Lagos as claimed.
She was tracked, arrested and taken to Kiruri Police Station in Kiambaa on May 31. Her accuser was summoned to the station where the socialite agreed to refund him his money.
