The government has moved to address online scam syndicates soiling the name of Mulot in Bomet county by establishing a Ksh100 million factory in the area.
ICT Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru, led the launch of one of a kind software factory in the area, a flagship project of the Kenya National Digital Masterplan.
The software factory is aimed at creating employment for over 100,000 youth in software engineering, spur the country's industrialization agenda and enhance economic growth.
The Digital Master Plan builds on the pillars of the Kenya Digital Economy Blueprint and the achievements of the Kenya National ICT Master Plan 2014 – 2017.
"It aims at providing a holistic and coordinated approach to ensure the alignment and optimisation of ICTs resources with changing needs," Mucheru stated during the launch.
The government decided to tap into the ICT skills in the Mulot area to tame online fraud in that region.
Mulot villages in Bomet county have gained notoriety as an unlikely hotbed of mobile money fraud and home for scammers.
Data indicates that most fraudsters arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) came from Mulot villages; Mulot Central, Mulot Olomirani and Mulot Sunset.
The online fraud syndicates have threatened to dent the trading complex gateway to the Mara Game Reserve, Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the larger Western tourism circuit.
A senior police officer allegedly fell victim to Mulot scammers who wiped clean his bank account which had over Ksh500,000. The revelation came out in court where the senior police officer testified.
In March, 2,000 sim cards and 15 mobile phones were impounded by police in Mulot.
In 2019, another group of youth were arrested with 200 sim cards with DCI arguing that they all came from the same notorious area.
The fraudulent trend has exposed the village as the home of cybercrime, with detectives declaring an operation to flush out sim swappers and scammers.
