One story that is as old as time is defrauding wazungu in the name of love. A big part of the exposed Nigerian online scam syndicate showed just how much young men from Nigeria took advantage of lonely, older white women by showering them with love and attention, then slowly asking for money either to travel to them or to start a business so that they could be stable enough to marry them.

I still remember the national embarrassment we all felt when a Kenyan man identified as Kevin was exposed live on the Dr Phil show for catfishing some married woman in America.

Whether it be catfishing online or preying on the mzungus that visit our country, Kenyans have been known to romance white folks in the name of money. I was born and bred in Mombasa; seeing young African women in the resorts being paid companions of old (and I mean, really old) white men is an everyday occurrence. Young black men have not been left behind. Beach boys, as we call them, enjoy their fair share of romancing solo female travellers.

While the premise (exchange of services and companionship for money) is still the same, some take their love story further towards marriage and family building. I remain sceptical at the intention of love from our African brothers and sisters because the underlying reason of these relationships has always been for greener pastures.

Take, for instance, the story of the Russian man we discussed a few weeks ago. It was clear that the women were operating from the old mindset of being with a mzungu equals opportunities. Either they would sleep with him for money or they were hoping for the fairytale ending of travelling abroad and to live better lives.

Little did they know that the Russian was 10 steps ahead. He already knew he was nothing more than an opportunity for these women. So what did he do? He used them to do his bidding and exposed them on the Internet for their shallowness.

I have already mentioned that what he did when it came to recording private moments and posting them on the Internet is a crime, but the rest was fair game. You see the mzungus have learnt a hard lesson. Perhaps once upon a time, they would have fallen for the alluring wiles of African women who rock their world and empty their pockets.

The older white folks of yesteryears learnt the hard way. They were conned, robbed and hardened in a way that their descendants will never ever fall for the same lies again.

A video widely shared on X last week refers. A son of the soil was shamed on the Internet for being a pathetic kept man who could not bite the hand that fed him.

The video, posted by a user by the name Kingpin of Kenya, showed a young man being insulted by an older white woman who was apparently his girlfriend, telling him to get her out of her car. The lore is that the ‘Ben 10’ was caught cheating by his sponsor, and she was showing him who the real boss is. She blocked traffic as he opened the driver side door and was seen repeatedly smacking him to get out of the car. 

Did the young man listen? Nope. He was willing to be recorded and shamed on the Internet to live in infamy as the kept boy toy of an older white woman who was sponsoring his activities. Unluckily for him, our friend from across the sea was wise enough to buy the car in her own name. Gone are the days of sponsors buying homes and cars in their partner’s names.