Conmen now targeting wealthy landowners in Eldoret

The evergreen town is also home to large landowners, and these people are the targets of unscrupulous people preying on what they see as easy prey.

In a  packed courtroom in the town, three suspects are in the dock. They are accused of conning elderly people out of their land.  

The suspects target retirees who own large tracts of land.

They have perfected their con game, that starts with the promises and allure of easy money. 

Mzee Charles Yano and his wife, Mary Chepkonga, are the latest victims of this elaborate con game.

Mzee Yano says the road to losing his pieces of land started innocently enough.  

He was buying feed for his cows, when one young man, identified as Brian, approached him with an interest in cattle rearing

“Akakuja kijana chipukizi akaniambia naona unanua nyasi, nataka niwe mtu kama wewe, nataka nione ngombe yako, nikaona ni kijana very young, ile mamelon anatumia hana nia maya, akamoba simu nikapea yeye namba jioni akapiga simu ..jioni akapiga simu,” Charles Yano told Citizen TV. 

Soon after Brian reached out to Mzee Yano again, this time with a lucrative mouthwatering deal that would see Yano get a cut of the sale of a rare mineral stone

“Akapiga simu tena, akasema mzee nataka unisaidie, kuna mzee hiyo pande ya tanglebeit sko na mawe na hiyo made akaspecify kusema meteorite, ile mawe inatoka huko juu, akaona mawe akaambia mzee, tupeleke eldoret bei itakuwa mzuri…” he added. 

Yano would soon be drawn into an intricate web, where Brian and his cohort managed to convince him and his wife to part with their title deeds to seven of their properties, measuring over 13 acres spread across Eldoret and Nairobi, to finance the transaction of the mineral stone.

“Hapo ndio sasa title deed ikatoka, ilikuwa ya ku secure loan ya 3 million ambayo ilikuwa down payment ya kutoa mawe ndio iuzwe tupewe cut yetu,” Yano added. 

“Kwenda lands tukapata hakuna shamba yeti tena, shamba ile iko ni ya Kiptum, badala ya yangu amebadilisha na ako na title, tukashtuka tukaanza kukimbia kwa advocate, tukauza ngombe, tukauza gari tupatie advocate,” Mary Chepkonga, Mzee Yano’s wife recounts. 

Yano and his wife say in the process of securing the loan, they were tricked into appending their signatures to a land sale agreement, and that is how they now find themselves in the corridors of justice, seeking to have that sale reversed.

It is proving to be an uphill task, an investigating officer in Eldoret, who is privy to  the case says the web of deceit is complex

“Hawa watu wanakuja na mambo kuwa wake na gold, baada ya mda mchache wanakwambia faya hizi tupaties title , tuikwekeze, tutafute mtu ambaye atatupatia hela, kumbe mwenye wanatfuta hela, ni mtu wao,” the investigating officer told Citizen TV

“Wanapigiana simu ni time ya watu karibu 12…hawakuambi hit ni sale agreement ya shamba, wanakuambai hii ni kuchunga hela ambayo tunafanya biashara nayo, ukishaweka kidole tu hizo sahihi dua kwamba shamba yako imeenda,”

The couple aren’t the only ones to fall prey to the antics of the gang in Eldoret, Joseph Kiprono too is fighting to get his family land back from the hands of the fraudsters

“A gang of about ten con men tried to get us to buy fake gold for our land there are many more people who have been tricked, they are just afraid or ashamed to come out,” Kiprono said.

The victims blame the authorities in Eldoret for looking the other way and slowing down the search for justice…

The investigating officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the rot goes all the way up.

“Wako na ushikiano wa karibu na DCI, lawyers na watu wa lands…wameenda hata west Pokot, Narok,” the officer said. 

Mzee Yano and his family have been seeking justice since 2020 and are now worried that the delays are according to the accused time to get away with their crimes…

“Sikuwahi fikiria na hii miaka yangu mtu anaweza kunilaghai kiasi hicho,” Chepkonga adds. 

They now want justice to be served and their hard earned land returned to them