A Nairobi-based employment agency was raided by hundreds of Kenyans who wanted to recoup the millions they had spent for jobs overseas. The all-too-familiar story took a turn when several people said they went overseas only to find themselves jobless.
Demanding reimbursements, the irate Kenyans who demonstrated outside the offices said that some of them had been promised jobs and had traveled 3,100 kilometers to Mauritius only to be left jobless.
According to the victims of the expanding fraud, they discovered the employment agency through internet ads, and the majority of them paid Ksh200,000 for the positions; nevertheless, many of them have not been put even after making complete payment.
Faith Nasimiyu, a carer and qualified driver, recalled, “I paid Ksh80,000 as a down payment first, and then I added Ksh145,000 for flight tickets.”
The director informed us that the jobs are prepared and that she is now in Mauritius. We should begin with any job one finds, she continued.
After being granted permission to travel to Mauritius for the job, Nasimiyu was one of the fortunate ones, but she would later discover that the position was really a paper one. She would be left without food for three days in a distant place.
We spent three days there. We didn’t eat. Nasimiyu recounted, “They told us that we had to wait for the plane that would take us.”
Her story is comparable to Erick Ochieng’s, who paid close to Ksh500,000 to have a cousin hired in Mauritius only to be turned away. “He was denied entry to Mauritius despite my giving him Ksh423,000 to work there.” According to Ochieng, he was informed that he had been granted a tourist visa.
Beatrice Njoki, another victim, disclosed that despite paying close to Ksh200,000, she was never hired. “I paid Ksh193,000 for a job in Mauritius, but there was no job,” she described painstakingly.
The business, Trustpin Travel Agency, is situated in Nairobi’s Biashara Plaza. It is active on the most of social media platforms, including Facebook, where it has 1.4k followers.
The business identifies itself as a travel agency that provides services for job hunting, hotel and flight booking, visa tracking, and visa applications.
Its most recent posting, according to an analysis of its web content, was in December. Its earlier entries show employment openings in Saudi Arabia, particularly in Dubai, but also in other locations.
Guards, housekeepers, baristas, cleaners, and hotel maintenance are among the positions being advertised. According to the ads, commissions for the positions range from Ksh10,000 to Ksh150,000. Before interviews, some people pay a registration fee.
The disclosures coincide with the government’s insistence that it intends to stop defrauding Kenyans who are looking for work overseas.
