Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives are holding a bank employee and his two accomplices after they were caught running a criminal syndicate.
In a statement released on Thursday, May 14, Kevin Oroko, a software developer at a local bank as well as two university students, Ian Kinanga and Jefferson Bosir were accused of conducting electronic fraud.
They were found in possession of 400 sim cards, 8 national ID cards, 2 laptops & 4 mobile phones.
The three were nabbed at High Point residential area in Juja Town where they are believed to have been conducting the crime.
"Three electronic fraud suspects namely Ian Kinanga, Jefferson Bosire both university students and Kevin Oroko a Software Developer at a local bank were today arrested at High Point residential area in Juja Town by DCI's Serious Crime Detectives.
"During the operation over 400 sim cards, 8 national ID cards, 2 laptops & 4 mobile phones were recovered from them," the statement read in part.
The detectives were tipped by members of the public before they proceeded to raid the premises where they found the suspects.
"The trio will be charged accordingly once further investigations are completed," added the statement.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March, forcing numerous people to start working from home, incidences of electronic fraud have been on the rise.
So dire is the situation that in April, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) issued a public notice warning of a scam where thugs end up wiping a victim's mobile money and bank accounts clean.
CA noted that the scam involved users receiving seemingly legitimate messages from the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the precursor to CA, informing them that they had registered the maximum number of SIM cards for a single subscriber.
With a phone number provided for targeted individuals to supposedly receive assistance, the fraudsters proceed to trick victims into giving out crucial personal information such as national Identification (ID) card numbers, passwords, usernames, pins and credit/debit card details.
Using this information, the fraudsters go on to access various accounts; including social media, mobile money and bank accounts.
