On the afternoon of Monday, July 21, 2025, a man walked into the Jericho Police Station in Nairobi carrying a torn paper bag and a swollen lip.
He introduced himself as a business owner who had just survived a brutal mugging. According to his account, two armed men had ambushed him near the Caltex Junction as he was returning home from Eastleigh, where he had gone to collect payment from a client.
He claimed they had struck him on the face with the butt of a pistol and made away with Sh320,000 in cash.
The officers on duty immediately opened an Occurrence Book file. They then gave him a medical form to seek treatment at a nearby hospital.
A statement was taken, and the man promised to return with further details, including his ID card, which he said had also been snatched during the incident.
From the outset, the officers sympathised with him. His lip was bleeding, his shirt was muddy, and his shoelaces had been cut. Everything about him gave the impression of someone recently roughed up by thugs.
Unfolding Investigations
Later that evening, two plainclothes officers were dispatched to the location described by the complainant.
They scouted the road leading to the scene and asked around at the kiosks and bodaboda stages near the junction.
Surprisingly, none of the locals reported witnessing any commotion at the stated time. Most said the area had been calm the whole afternoon.
A further check of the route revealed no signs of a struggle or dropped personal items. This began to raise suspicion. One officer remarked that the whole incident seemed too clean.
If there had truly been a robbery involving a scuffle, there would at least be a witness or some evidence left behind.
CCTV Revelation
To validate the story, investigators decided to pull CCTV footage from a nearby electronics shop and two apartment buildings facing the road. What they found turned the case on its head.
At exactly 2:26 p.m., the footage showed the man walking briskly across the road with a white envelope tucked under his shirt.
He looked around nervously, stopped near a tree, and then shoved the envelope into a plastic paper bag. Moments later, he sat under the same tree, removed his shoes, and began to roll around in the dust.
The video clearly showed him hitting himself lightly on the face, spitting on his shirt, and even using a rock to scratch his elbow.
After about ten minutes of this bizarre behaviour, he got up, limped towards the road, and flagged down a bodaboda, heading in the direction of the police station.
Unexpected Turn
By the following morning, officers had already confirmed the man’s identity using previous traffic fines and mobile money records. They quietly tracked his home in Donholm and arrested him at 6:30 a.m. without incident. He was found counting bundles of cash at his dining table. The total recovered was Sh296,500. The remaining amount, he said, had been used to “settle a pressing debt” and buy himself a new phone.
When confronted with the CCTV footage, he broke down and admitted the entire story had been made up. He explained that he had been tasked by his employer to collect rent from three buildings in Eastleigh, totalling Sh320,000. After collecting the money, he had been overwhelmed by temptation.
He thought faking a robbery would save him from immediate suspicion. But he hadn’t counted on nearby buildings having security cameras.
Employer Responds
His employer, a prominent property manager in Eastleigh, expressed shock and disappointment. The company had trusted him with rent collections for over two years. He had never raised any red flags before. The employer declined to press full charges, opting instead to let the police handle the matter according to the law.
The company also revealed that this was not the first time an employee had tried to fake a robbery to conceal theft. Just last year, a female staff member falsely reported being drugged and robbed in Mathare, only for her phone location to reveal she had spent the night at her boyfriend’s house in Ruaka, and used company money to furnish it.
Public Outcry
The story went viral across social media platforms within hours of his arrest. Memes and jokes flooded X and TikTok, showing people acting out exaggerated versions of fake robberies. Kenyans expressed both amusement and anger, with many calling out the increasing number of staged crimes to cover up theft, failed bets, or personal extravagance.
One user wrote, “Wizi ya pesa si mchezo. But pretending to beat yourself just to lie to cops? That’s Oscar-level acting.” Another joked, “If broke was a person, he just hired himself as the thief and the victim.”
Police Warning
Police spokesperson Charles Owino addressed the issue during a media briefing the next day. He warned the public against abusing the justice system by filing false robbery reports. He noted that every time a fake case is reported, real victims get less attention and valuable resources are wasted.
He praised the Jericho officers for their diligence and described the case as a perfect example of modern investigative policing. “We now have eyes on every corner of Nairobi. Don’t think you can fake a crime and get away with it,” he said.
A Pattern Emerges
Over the last year, police in Nairobi have recorded an increase in fabricated theft reports. In March, a student in Githurai claimed her bag containing exam fees had been stolen by thugs on a matatu. CCTV footage from the sacco showed she had alighted with the bag and entered a betting shop instead.
In May, a boda rider claimed his passenger drugged him and escaped with a Sh150,000 loan he was meant to deposit. It later emerged he had lied to avoid repaying a chama loan he had used to purchase a new sound system.
Behind the Lies
Experts say most people who fake robberies are often not hardened criminals. Instead, they are desperate individuals under pressure to deliver money they no longer have, or people trying to escape the consequences of bad financial choices.
One criminal psychologist interviewed said shame and fear of job loss are powerful motivators. In their minds, a false robbery offers a temporary shield. But most do not consider the long-term damage or the increasing sophistication of investigative methods.
Real Life, Real Solutions
For many Kenyans, life can be unforgiving. Jobs are scarce. Expectations are high. And trust, once broken, is nearly impossible to rebuild. Still, there are better ways to deal with personal crises than staging crimes.
What many people do not know is that for those who feel overwhelmed, cornered, or trapped in financial struggles that lead them to do desperate things, there are safer, more effective options that can help turn their lives around. Some of these solutions are discreet, fast, and come with long-lasting results.
The Other Side
In many bizarre cases like this one, it often turns out the person involved was under more pressure than they could handle. Family demands, mounting debts, blackmail, or even unexplained personal losses can drive someone to invent a crisis.
That is why a growing number of Kenyans are reaching out not to lawyers or loan sharks, but to people with the ability to reveal hidden truths, protect assets, and provide relief from forces that seem beyond explanation. These individuals operate quietly and are trusted for good reason.
What Really Helps
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