30-year-old Julius Gacheru Wangari, alias Chris, who has been impersonating popular journalists and scamming unsuspecting high-level personalities, has been arrested in the Zambezi area of Kikuyu in Kiambu County.
A police report seen by BRK confirms the arrest, following multiple cases of the suspect fraudulently receiving money from guests hosted at Standard Media Group’s Spice FM and Royal Media’s Citizen TV.
It’s reported that before his arrest, Gacheru communicated with guests who had attended interviews at local media stations and impersonated the hosts, requesting a tip for the live sessions and to promote their stories further. Among the journalists impersonated are Citizen TV’s Yvonne Okwara and Spice FM’s Erick Latiff.
The communication gadgets he allegedly used in the scheme have been recovered and surrendered to the Digital Forensic Laboratory for analysis. Upon arrest and brief interrogation, the suspect alleged to be a diploma holder in journalism from a renowned media institution in the country and had previously worked with a religious FM radio.
Among the people scammed include a Principal Secretary (PS), a renowned businessman and politician, a high-ranking director at KPLC, and an official at the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya, among others.
