Beatrice Orunga. Photo | courtesy.
When Kim* first heard about an opportunity to work in Dubai, it seemed like a dream come true.
A woman named Beatrice Oruga promised him a prestigious position as a Warehouse Supervisor in a major logistics company.
All Kim needed to do was raise Sh210,000 to cover “processing fees” and “travel arrangements.” Driven by hope and the desire to support his family back home in Kenya, Kim borrowed money from friends, relatives, and took loans.
Over the past years, Beatrice Oruga has been soliciting large sums from young Kenyans like Kim, preying on their desperation for a better future abroad.
She paints glowing pictures of well-paying, respectable jobs, promising furnished housing, medical insurance, and attractive salaries. Yet, victims like Kim discover too late that the promises were nothing but lies.
Instead of a supervisory role, Kim found himself dumped into grueling manual labor hauling goods in warehouse yards under the scorching desert sun, for a fraction of the salary he was promised.
The deception begins even before the victims board their flights, investigations reveal that Oruga arranges fake hotel bookings and forged medical insurance covers to apply for one-month visitor visas for her unsuspecting clients, not proper work visas as they are led to believe.
Upon arrival, victims are shocked to find that they have no real employer and no place to stay.
“I contacted Booking.com because the hotel confirmation letter she gave me seemed suspicious they confirmed the booking didn’t exist at all,” Kim says.
Similarly, the medical insurance documents provided to the victims supposedly issued by a Dubai-based company called EKTA turn out to be fake, offering no real coverage.
With only a short-stay visa, victims are forced to scramble to pay additional costs to extend their stay in Dubai legally, racking up more expenses on top of the Sh210,000 they already paid Oruga.
Left stranded, many end up taking exploitative hard-labor jobs just to survive, often under miserable working and living conditions others face arrest and deportation if they fail to legalize their stay in time.
Labour migration experts are warning that without tighter regulation of private recruiters and better education of potential migrant workers, many more young Kenyans could fall into similar traps.
“This is modern-day trafficking under the guise of job placement,” says Dr. Sheila Mungai, a migration specialist. “There must be stiffer penalties and proactive international cooperation to shut down these scams.”
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Rise of Job Scam Crisis
With many companies exiting the country and other downsizing, many Kenyans have been laid off making it a fertile ground for scammers to hoodwink unsuspecting job seekers. Kim’s story is not unique. In recent months, Kenya has witnessed a surge in job scam incidents, highlighting a growing crisis,
Vintmark Travel Agency Scam, In September 2024, victims stormed the Nairobi offices of Vintmark Travel Agency, demanding refunds after being duped into paying large sums for overseas jobs that never materialized. The agency, linked to Caesar Wagicheru King’ori, allegedly collected millions of shillings from job seekers under false pretenses.
PGA Manpower Agency Incident, In February 2025, a distraught job seeker stormed into PGA Manpower Agency’s office in Nairobi, causing chaos after reportedly being conned. The man had paid money to the agency, hoping to find a job abroad, but was taken in circles. In a fit of rage, he broke a staff member’s laptop, leaving other employees in shock.
DCI Crackdown on Fake Recruitment Drives, In June 2024, detectives from Nairobi Regional Headquarters arrested five suspects believed to be behind a fraudulent recruitment drive for overseas jobs. The operation saw approximately 1,000 job seekers saved from what would have been a massive employment fraud scheme.
Worth Start Africa Scam: In April 2024, a man wept uncontrollably outside Worth Start Africa’s office in Nairobi after being conned of Sh60,000. He had been promised a job in Canada, only to find out it was a scam.
The incident prompted a police raid on the agency’s offices. These incidents underscore the urgent need for stricter regulation and oversight of recruitment agencies in Kenya. The National Employment Authority has revoked licenses of some affected agencies following public outcry over conning.
Today, Kim a university graduate remains stranded in Dubai, two weeks after his arrival.
Armed with a degree and big dreams, he now works irregular shifts doing grueling manual labor just to afford food and a place to sleep a far cry from the Warehouse Supervisor position he was promised.
Each day, he wrestles with rising debts back home and the fear of being arrested for overstaying his visa.
“I wake up every morning wondering if I’ll be kicked out or thrown into jail,” he says. “This is not life. It’s survival.”
For a young man who once dreamed of building a career and providing for his family, the betrayal cuts even deeper his message to others back home is clear
“Before you hand over your future to someone, ask hard questions. Verify everything. Not every door that opens leads to a better life some open straight into a trap.”
