The alarm has been raised on four online Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) that have been fraudulently taking money from Kenyans with promises of huge returns.
Milazi SACCO, Zeepo SACCO, J-Hela SACCO and Homepesa SACCO are not licenced by the Central Bank of Kenya and the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) to take monetary deposits in the country.
The SACCOs have, however, been collecting deposits through mobile money transfer services from their subscribers with the promise of more than three times the deposited amount.
Thika Town parliamentary hopeful Patrick Wainaina is the owner of the J-Hela platform and he is also the Chief Executive Officer of Jungle Nuts Company.
Following a letter by the Business Daily, the two regulators recently put out a warning notice on local newspapers.
"Such entities entice members of the public to place money with them and promise quick and abnormally high returns on their money or acquisition of non-existent properties.
"CBK and SASRA advise members of the public not to place their money with such unlicensed entities," the joint announcement read in part.
The companies have managed to evade regulators and other market authorities as their operations continue.
