A recent trend that targets consumers of mobile phones in Nairobi's downtown stores is gradually spreading like wildfire.
According to reports, the thieves prey on inexperienced smartphone buyers by purposefully trailing them into stores while feigning to be out looking for smartphones or accessories.
Nairobi resident Daniel Karanja was approached while looking for a phone on Luthuli Avenue.
“My wife was travelling upcountry, and so I needed to grab a Kabambe mobile phone for the kids and the house help, for purposes of communication,” he says.
“I went to this shop along Luthuli Avenue with a nephew around 8 pm, and just then, a man walked into the shop, pretending to be shopping for a phone.
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“He kept looking at me, and the phone. He didn’t appear keen to buy a phone,” says Karanja.
Two minutes later, a second man enters the store, posing as a customer looking to purchase a screen protector for his phone.
The female mobile phone store employee cast a suspicious glance at them. Karanja says, "I knew they were up to no good."
Their tacky appearance and nonverbal cues easily identified them as they made their way to the store. In an embarrassing attempt to conceal their faces, they were both donning hats.
But the moment the two men saw the Kabambe, they seemed to lose interest.
The shop attendant left us alone as the two men left.
“These are thieves, and they were targeting you. Please be careful out there,” offered the attendant as he parked the phone into his box.
The store clerk claimed that these were well-known people from the street who had defrauded numerous gullible phone buyers.
Jared, a Nairobi-based IT specialist, told Wananchi Reporting how, a mere four minutes after leaving a phone store, he was ambushed by a gang of thugs.
"I believe they pursued me from the store; I was unaware that these thugs were pursuing me," lamented Jared, who had just lost a brand-new phone he had paid Ksh18,000 for.
Many claim that the mayhem in the capital's downtown areas makes it easy for criminals to take phones and bags from passersby and blend in with the throng of people.
“You cannot chase after them because some could be armed, and they can stab or shoot you,” says Karanja, "the assumption is that anyone walking to a phone shop has money to spend."
Many thieves are reportedly shying away from stealing old, used mobile phones for fear of being tracked by the police.
Detectives in the Nairobi Region have recently taken over three hundred suspected stolen tablets, laptops, and cell phones from phone repair shops.
In addition, there is the problem of the used phone market contracting and the constant worry of being arrested for handling stolen goods.
Kenyans have been advised to exercise caution when purchasing electronics, including cell phones.
