The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has arrested a 26-year-old university dropout for allegedly hacking and stealing Ksh11.4 million from a major betting company.
The dropout was apprehended in his two-bedroom apartment in Tatu City on Saturday, August 30, after being tracked down by the detectives.
Confirming the arrest of the individual, the Regional Criminal Investigations Officer, Central Region, Abraham Mugambi, claimed that the individual had executed several similar crimes targeting major brands.
Mugambi claimed that investigations and efforts to track down the suspects kick-started in July, when the betting company reported losing Ksh11.4 million to hackers. Mugambi claimed that the suspect had managed to bypass the firm's digital security systems to steal the money.
"This year in July, a report was made that a payment service provider had lost Ksh11.4 million through fraudulent means. Investigations commenced, and DCI teams of experts established that the fraud was committed after the individual bypassed the security systems of the company," Mugambi stated
Responding to the allegations, the suspect, who is a second-year bachelor of IT dropout from the University of Meru, claimed that he was a cybersecurity engineer and told officers, "This is what I do."
The suspect, however, claimed that the activities he was conducting were not theft, but rather an independent consultancy.
Following the operations, the DCI managed to recover several computers and laptops, a money-counting machine, a safe, and other items from his apartment.
The detectives have assured that they will be at the forefront to take action against such individuals, to put an end to digital fraud in the country.
"We are grappling with white-collar crime, particularly computer crimes, and what I want to assure the public is that the National Police Service is up to the task and that criminals who try to do such activities will try to run, but they cannot hide from us," Mugambi said.
The arrest comes just four months after the detectives apprehended five suspects for allegedly hacking into bank accounts and stealing more than Ksh3.2 million.
In a statement on Wednesday, May 7, the detectives claimed that individuals were caught after police followed leads from a mobile phone theft incident in Nairobi.
"Authorities have arraigned five savvy fraudsters who orchestrated a sophisticated hacking scheme, draining over Ksh3.2 million from a victim's bank accounts," DCI stated.
