How I lost Sh350,000 cameras to Airbnb cons in South B
City photographer June Mweteeli rues the day she broke her work rules and responded to a WhatsApp message sent to her number after 5pm.
As a rule, Mweteeli does not engage clients after work hours since she uses her only phone number both for official and personal engagements. She rests on Mondays.
However, one Sunday, January 15, 2023, she received a WhatsApp message from a woman who identified herself as Janet at 8pm.
Janet sent a screenshot of Mweteeli’s Instagram page, @photographybyMsMweteeliJuly) – where she promotes her work — and said she would like a photo shoot the next day, Monday.
The studio photos would make her feel good about herself, she told Mweteeli.
Mweteeli agreed to the shoot and requested that they firm up the details in the morning.
“I call her the next day and she does not pick up. She texts back saying she is in a meeting and asks if we can text,” Mweteeli recalls.
They agree to do the shoot at 3pm, with Janet proposing the shoot be done at her home.
“I have a big house so we can do them here. I’d want a family shoot,” the text read.
Mweteeli says that she only does in-house shoots for clients she is familiar with or repeat clients.
“I gave her the benefit of the doubt,” she admits.
Mweteeli continued planning with Janet and got to know her ‘client’s’ expectations of the shoot.
After finalising the planning, Mweteeli told Janet that she would require 70 per cent of the agreed fee before the shoot and 30 per cent afterwards.
Janet responded: “My husband is having a problem with the terms of payment.”
She explained that she had paid a photographer upfront who swindled her, backing her claims with screenshots.
Sympathetic, Mweteeli agreed to a deal that is not in her terms of payment, and told Janet to send her Sh3,000 for transport and equipment.
Settle the balance
“You will settle the balance while we are at the shoot,” she told her.
Janet said her house was in South B.
After getting to South B, Mweteeli called Janet who told her to look for a place called Sana Sana.
At around 3:20pm, Janet directed Mweteeli to her ‘home’.
“We get to this block of apartments called Attic. The environment does not read to me as one of my typical clientele,” says Mweteeli.
Inside the house, Janet offered Mweteeli lunch – eggs and ugali.
Janet, who says she is not a fan of that meal, obliged, but only ate two scoops before she politely declined the rest.
Her host then offered her a soda, and poured it into a glass. “The soda looked weird. I noticed something floating on the soda,” she recalls.
Mweteeli rejected the soda and instead asked for a glass of water, which she poured from the jug that was on the table.
“She also brought hot water in a thermos for me to pour for myself as we engaged in small talk about her husband, and children, just to get to know my client,” Mweteeli adds.
As the day progressed, Mweteeli told her client that it was time to start getting ready and also asked about her payment.
Janet confirmed to Mweteeli that she would settle the bill and disappeared into the rest of the house to prepare.
Same clothes
Meanwhile, Mweteeli set up her camera worth Sh350,000 for the shoot.
“She (Janet) takes a shower but comes back in the same clothes she was wearing,” Mweteeli says.
Also, Janet did not bring out any clothes to change into.
“A thought comes to my mind about the whole situation so far and I say to myself that I need to leave,” she says.
However, Mweteeli still gave her client the benefit of the doubt after Janet said she was waiting for some flowers for the shoot but the rider was running late.
“She makes a phone call and I gather that the rider is lost and cannot locate the apartment,” recalls Mweteeli.
Janet requested the photographer to accompany her as they go for the flowers and she agreed, even though she was unsure of the new development.
“I imagined that maybe she feels insecure leaving a stranger in her house. I leave my equipment,” she says.
To reassure her, Janet locked the house and the two left to a spot not too far from the apartment.
At some point, Janet gave Mweteeli the house keys, telling her,
“The rider is just around the corner, give me a second, I will be right back.”
As she waited, Mweteeli received a phone call from a friend that lasted about two minutes before another friend of hers walked past her with her sister.
Call her client
The two chatted for about five minutes with Mweteeli explaining that she was in the area for a photo shoot. She then excused herself to call her client.
“I call Janet twice, and her number is not going through,” she says.
Mweteeli decided to walk back to the apartment but realised she was not fine, with her feet wobbly and uncoordinated.
“I finally get into the apartment and when I try to open the padlock, I realise there is none. I open the door and see the padlock on the couch,” she recalls, her eyes tearing up.
She then grabbed her bag, only to realise it was empty. She then checked the house with the hope that her equipment was somewhere in the house.
“I’m in shock. I wobble to the kitchen and find the two plates. I open the fridge; it is completely empty. I go to the bedroom nothing, the bathroom — only the bathing supplies. I realise this is an Airbnb,” she pauses, overwhelmed with emotion.
Mweteeli then called a friend, who advised her to get out of the apartment immediately, as she sought help from their mutual friend, the same lady Mweteeli had bumped into moments earlier.
“I find two neighbours outside and enquire about a Janet who lives here,” she recalls.
The neighbours, perplexed, confirmed that the apartment operates as an Airbnb.
Able to identify ‘Janet'
“I’ve been drugged and robbed, who can I talk to?” she asks them.
Mweteeli was directed to Justin, the block’s caretaker and they go through the CCTV cameras where she was able to identify ‘Janet’. This was after 5pm.
“As we went to get the flowers, which was a ruse, a man walked in and left with one of my equipment bags,” she narrates.
At that point, Mweteeli was doing so badly that she had to be supported by her friends who later took her to their home.
“I got a new set of clothes and called my mum who then informed my sister and she picked me up,” she recalls.
At the hospital, begin treatment to flush out any drugs in her system.
With the matter under investigation, Mweteeli says the caretaker told her the apartment was booked an hour before she arrived, paid for in cash to a security officer.
“The officer said that Janet was wearing a mask and was accompanied by a gentleman when she made the payment,” says Mweteeli. BY DAILY NATION
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