By Tajeu Shadrack Nkapapa
A joint team of detectives from the DCI headquarters and their counterparts in Kasarani has arrested Pascaline Peter, the primary suspect charged with defrauding unsuspecting members of the public out of hundreds of millions of shillings by falsely presenting investment opportunities promising significant returns through her real estate firm, Pafrim Investments Ltd.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Pascaline alias Passy Ma Trevor is alleged to have gone into hiding after carting away approximately Kshs 350 million from her victims leaving them counting huge losses.
“In a well-orchestrated scheme that involved convincing victims to deposit large sums of money into four different bank accounts across Equity Bank, Coop Bank, Stanbic Bank and Kingdom Bank, with a promise of up to 30% monthly interest, Passy Ma Trevor also falsely claimed she was running a successful real estate company that she used as a bait but once payments were made, she switched off her mobile phone and went into hiding,” the DCI noted.
Upon discovering that Passy had deceived them into participating in a Ponzi scheme that resulted in significant financial losses, the affected individuals united and submitted their complaint to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
This prompted an investigation that ultimately led to her being located and smoked out from her hideout in Kantafu, Machakos County.
“Preliminary investigatios have revealed that the 36 year old lady who displayed opulence across her social media outlets managed to defraud over 200 individuals, with 106 formal complaints already filed against her,” Directorate of Criminal Investigations stated.
As the investigations continue, detectives are working tirelessly to gather watertight evidence to enable her prosecution.
The DCI has also urged the public to remain vigilant and cautious of similar fraudulent schemes to avoid further financial losses in the hands of such individuals or companies.