Scammed in Rwanda

 

6/13/2025

Friday the 13th, 2025 — a day that started out with happiness but quickly turned into a hard lesson. I had just returned home from the immigration office, where my visa status had been approved. I was genuinely happy and relieved. After dropping me off, my wife headed to work, and I settled in at the house.

Not long after, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I thought it might be related to immigration, or possibly something the landlord had arranged regarding the maintenance requests we’d made. Instead, it was a man who introduced himself as Joseph. He claimed he had accidentally sent money to my number via MoMo Pay and asked me to return it. He said he would involve MTN, the local cell service provider.

Immediately after that, I got another call — this time from someone claiming to be an MTN representative. Everything was confusing. I’m still very new here, and I don’t fully understand how the MoMo Pay system works. Caught off guard and unsure of what to do, I followed the instructions the caller gave me. In my panic and confusion, I ended up sending money to them twice, until my account was nearly empty. Only 50 cents remained.

The emotional swing was brutal. From the high of my visa approval, I plummeted into a state of shock, shame, and anger. I felt utterly deceived, humiliated, and drained — both financially and emotionally. The rest of the day was difficult, and even now, I still feel bad about what happened.

But I’ve learned a hard lesson. Scams like this can happen quickly and unexpectedly, especially when you’re in a new country and still trying to understand how things work. From now on, I will be much more cautious. I won’t let this define my time here, but I won’t forget it either.