Twitter Swindler: February 2022, the internet was rocking with news of ‘The Tinder Swindler’, Simon Leviev who had managed to extort women from all over the world, with a fake identity alleging that he is the son of billionaire Lev Leviev, owner of LLD diamonds.
His expose was nothing short of brilliant as the women who he had swindled almost 300,000 Euros got a feature in the popular productions service, Netflix. The principal vice that got him all that money was lies.
He would use romantic relationships on the dating platform Tinder as a pillar to maneuver his lies; all for money. And no, he would cast his net wide. He was international at his game.
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In recent days, claims have risen in Kenya that it seems to have had one of these extortionists lurking at bay. Gift Emmanuel Masinde, 27 years old, is allegedly accused of mastering the art of connivance through a social media platform equally.
As fate would have it, it wouldn’t be long until he would have himself exposed for his fraudulence, however. These claims say that Gift uses Twitter to get hold of his victims. He is rather specific as he phishes out users with the Twitter brand ‘Twitter for iPhone’. He has single-handedly managed to swindle seven Kenyan women an estimated total of 3.5 million Kenyan shillings.
The women were left shocked at the catastrophe that this man had got them into all in the name of ‘Love’. They claim that all it took for Gift was a nice play with his words and collective affection. The women now stare at the several loans due to repayment after getting conned.
The women got together virtually and formed a WhatsApp group ‘co-wives’ with an objective to get their money back. They went further ahead to record statements at the KICC police station. Authorities are on the hunt for this man, rightfully so.
Gift, whose Twitter bio (@Masinde001) reads ‘Pick your struggle; something MUST kill a man. Mind the business that pays you.’ The first step to him pulling off these alleged fox-like traits was to poise himself on social media as an elegant and smartly dressed gentleman whom most women in Kenya wouldn’t resist.
Well, according to the reports by the women on a feature story by Leon Lidigu, it wouldn’t be long before he would be depicted as a pathological racketeer and a manipulative liar whose quest was to quench his thirst for money. He told several lies to these women repeatedly but the hurtful ones must’ve been on loving them genuinely.
The endless list of lies continues; He claimed to be living in Runda with his Mother who holds a senior position at the National Lands Commission (NLC) while in the real sense he lives in Kahawa Wendani, according to his brother. His mother lives in Kimilili, Bungoma county and his father is a lecturer at Kenyatta University.
He also lied that he is a graduate of Strathmore University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science for the class of 2016. However, it turns out that his records are nowhere to be seen on the institution’s database.
It is claimed that he forged checks and bonds so that he may ensure his loanees’ security for the money that they would lend him.
His first relationship would be with a lawyer who has requested to keep her identity private. He has managed to swindle from this lawyer a total of Kshs.1,220,000. His second victim of the endless deception barrage is a Director of a company in Nairobi’s City center who he managed to oust Kshs.936,000. After breaking up with his victim he would move on to a new one while covering any follow-up on his tracks.
He would block his victims and cut connections with them and go rogue with their money. Shortly after he went after a lecturer at one of Kenya’s universities. The lecturer has 3 degrees, 1 of which is a degree in Psychology.
From here, he was able to swindle the love-struck lecturer an estimated Kshs.550,000. Later on, he went after a woman who is a nurse based in the UK. Reports claim that he was able to con her roughly Kshs.188,000.
Every con artist has their last straw.
His last girlfriend caught up with his deception acts and called out on him, just before she took out a big loan to help him satisfy his thirst. She noticed that the security for her repayment that he gave her was actually forged. Mr. Masinde’s swindling syndicate came to a collapse shortly after that ordeal.
However, the story is far from complete as Masinde’s side of the story has not been told. As of now, Masinde watches these allegations against him take a heated debate on Twitter by the active Kenyans on Twitter.
He now seeks to ruffle some feathers by telling his side of the story.