Facebook deal: Trader charged with bicycle trade fraud

A man who allegedly issued a cheque to buy a bicycle from a Facebook customer and later recalled it was on Friday charged with obtaining goods by false pretense.

 Samuel Munyua Kiranga was charged before Kibera senior principal magistrate Esther Boke where he denied the charges.

Munyua, the charge sheet said he obtained the Allez made bicycle worth Sh 55,000 from David Joseph Lansangan by falsely pretending he was in a position to pay for it a fact he knew was false.

The offense, the charge sheet said that was committed in 4th Parklands, within Nairobi County on July 20.

The police report said the complainant had advertised his bike on Facebook when the accused person contacted him and they agreed on the business.

The police report further indicated that the accused person then deposited a cheque to the complainant but he used his friends’ account which he recalled later.

 The suspect then deposited a cheque to Lansangan’s friend’s bank account and the same reflected on the account.

Lansangan reportedly gave the bicycle to Kiranga who carried it away in his car.

The police report said the complainant checked the account on the second day and realised the cash had been reversed.

The accused person however denied the charges and was released on Sh 40,000 cash bail or a bond of Sh 200,000 with the surety of the same amount.

Boke directed the case to be mentioned on August 13.