Empower Smart Launches Digital Escrow App to Protect Kenyans from Scammers

A Kenyan startup, Empower Smart, has launched an app that weeds out scammers by securing the payments to the seller until the buyer is satisfied with the delivered product.

The firm is utilizing this digital escrow to solve the rising cases of scammers who rip off their customers by selling counterfeit goods.

Peter Muraya, Empower Smart’s founder and Chief Executive, has assured that the digital escrow, a financial and legal agreement designed to protect Buyers and Sellers in a transaction, will be facilitated by payment products under the empower wallet.

“Online purchase scams will now be a thing of the past, as you can now send an advance locked payment to the seller. The money leaves the buyer’s wallet and is temporarily held under digital escrow until the product is delivered.

The buyer then unlocks the payment from his app and the seller now can access and withdraw the previously locked funds. An unhappy customer can request reversal of locked funds from the app,” Muraya elaborated.

With the growth of the escrow system in sectors such as real estate and empowering smart is hoping that it will revolutionize the eCommerce platform in Kenya. With its mass adoption in online shopping platforms, the eCommerce sector in Kenya could witness a sharp growth in revenue and trustworthiness,

“Empower Smart is helping create exponential growth in the eCommerce space and creating trust in online trades and large transactions like land and cars. This is using its innovative and truly revolutionary Digital Escrow Payment Platform available on the Empower Smart App,” He remarked.

The infiltration of such scammers in online shopping platforms subjected the platform to a decrease in customers and resulted to rebrand the entire company as a public relations last resort.

Kenya’s investigative unit, the Department of Criminal Investigations, has noted the rise of scammers on online platforms during the festive season when the purchase of goods increases. The director of criminal investigations, George Kinoti, has alerted the public against falling victim to scammers who are now relying on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

“We have received numerous reports from clients who ordered for goods advertised on social networking sites, especially on Instagram, but the goods were either not delivered or the quality not similar to what was advertised, we, therefore, advise the public to take precaution while engaging in online business dealings, to avoid falling prey to online scammers and fraudsters,” Kinoti warned.