Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested Pascaline Peter, alias Passy Ma Trevor, who had been on the run after allegedly defrauding Sh350 million from unsuspecting Kenyans under the guise of a real estate investment opportunity that turned out to be a ponzi scheme.
The 36-year-old suspect was arrested at her hideout in Kantafu, Machakos County; she has since been booked at Kasarani Police Station, pending arraignment on Friday.
Police reports indicate that the self-proclaimed businesswoman managed and rented out people’s money through a money-lending institution operated in violation of the Banking Act and without proper documentation.
A joint team of detectives drawn from DCI headquarters and their Kasarani counterparts arrested the main suspect accused of fleecing unsuspecting members of public hundreds of millions of shillings under the guise of investing money for substantial returns from her real estate firm- Pafrim Investments Ltd.
Passy Ma Trevor is alleged to have gone into hiding after carting away approximately Sh350 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.
Learning that Passy had tricked them into joining a ponzi scheme that had cost them an arm and a leg, the affected individuals teamed up and filed their complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations who launched investigations leading to her being 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.
As the investigations continue, detectives are working tirelessly to gather watertight evidence to enable her prosecution and do urge the public to remain vigilant and cautious of similar fraudulent schemes to avoid further financial losses in the hands of such individuals or companies.
The team has appealed to more victims to record statements over the saga.
It has already been established that Pascaline received over Ksh.26 million in one of the bank accounts over the past two weeks.
Police believe the money is part of the proceeds of crime related to the investment scam and her money laundering activities.
Some victims, including senior civil servants, were deceived into purchasing land that was never processed.
Police had by Thursday recorded statements from 136 complainants but expect the number of victims to exceed 300.
The suspect faces serious charges, including money laundering and operating a lending institution without proper documentation.
