Detectives in Hot Pursuit of a 27-Year-Old Kenyan Serial Fraudster

Detectives have launched a search for a 27-year-old serial fraudster whose criminal undertakings have set dozens of his victims into untold economic suffering.

The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is appealing for information on the whereabouts of Reynold Nelson Shikhule.

The DCI says Shikhule, who is not new to the corridors of justice, has mastered his way through the criminal justice system whenever he is arraigned in court and is released on bond or cash bail for fraud-related cases.

It is alleged that the suspect, who wears different hats to ensnare his targets, mostly poses as an established investor at an online Forex Trade platform and a serious car dealer with connections globally. He remains wanted by detectives in Gigiri, Parklands, and the Serious Crimes Unit where he has pending cases.

In one of the cases, Shikhule is charged with defrauding a Microsoft East Africa Systems employee of Sh5 million between August and October 2018 by falsely pretending to invest the money at an online forex trade that would earn the victim good monthly returns.

He thereafter went underground until June 2019 when detectives arrested and charged him before a Kiambu court for obtaining money by false pretenses. He was released on a Sh1 million bond or an alternative cash bail of Sh500,000.

“After several hearings, the suspect made an application to settle the matter outside the court by returning the victim’s money, but went ahead to issue two bad cheques to the victim in February 2020. He absconded court in all the subsequent hearings, which saw a warrant of arrest issued against him by the Chief Magistrate Court Kiambu,” DCI says in a report.

A recent compilation of fraud cases that signaled his involvement was done by the SCU, triggering his profiling which established that his face, con trick, and fraudulence were being run on various social media sites. 

Authorities have appealed to anyone with information that may assist in his arrest to report to the DCI through its toll-free hotline 0800 722 203.