Woman accused of conning Kenyans in ‘Simple Homes scam’ arrested

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives based in Langata have arrested a woman believed to be behind the real estate company name 'Simple Homes,' a scam that has duped hundreds of Kenyans.

31-year-old Nuzrat Sharif was arrested on Friday, February 21, in Nyali, Mombasa County.

Through a statement by the DCI, Nuzrat was arrested in connection with a company known as Dinm Evitaerc limited that had offices in Parklands and lured Kenyans into a scam.

"The suspect was arrested in connection with a company identified as Dinm Evitaerc limited that had offices in Parklands in 2019 & was luring Kenyans to invest in a scam dubbed 'Simple Homes.'"

The DCI also claims that Nuzrat tricked her mother, Nurjahan Mohamed, 52, into opening various companies.

These companies include Tellub Ltd (Bullet Proop), Dinm Evitaerc Ltd (Creative Mind), Kehdok Saniwagra Igniwga (Agwingi Argawings Kodhek), Rkab Uba Nisay (Yasin Abubakr) and EOAH.

The DCI also asked Kenyans who had been conned in the scam to come forward to make a formal report.

"We call upon those who may have fallen victim of these fraudsters to make a formal report at Lang' ata DCI offices," said the DCI.

When the company, Simple Homes, was first set up in 2015, many Kenyans believed that it was a godsend as they offered affordable housing for those who wanted to own a house.

With their slogan, 'pay rent, own home,' many Kenyans invested millions into the company with hopes of owning a home.

However, in 2017, several Kenyans came out to expose how the company had conned them.

It all started with social media posts that warned Kenyans against investing their money into the company as the offers sounded too good to be true.

Later on, questions started raising after a Facebook user identified as Martin Tairo Maseghe posted saying, "If you booked Nambalee Court in Embakasi, a project by Simple Homes, have your passport and visa ready for the site visit which will happen in South Africa."

Netizens, through google reverse image search, were able to establish that the photos the company was using, were sourced from the internet.

A series of complaints from Kenyans were later raised on social media with many dubbing 'Simple Homes' as a scam.