DCI Arrests 8 Suspects Who Stole Ksh 500 Million From Fuliza

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested 8 suspects in connection with a high-level fraud syndicate that saw Safaricom lose close to 500 million shillings to scammers.

Isaack Kipkemoi, Gideon Rono, Maxwell Ributhu, Gideon Kirui, Moses Rono, Collins Kipyegon, and Edwin Cheruiyot were arrested at an apartment in Kiamunyi, while the mastermind Peter Gitahi was arrested in Kitale.

The eight suspects who are based in Nakuru and Trans-Nzoia counties obtained the amount through Safaricom’s Fuliza overdraft. The young men were found in possession of thousands of Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards which were allegedly used to borrow the money. DCI noted that the SIM Cards were registered with fraudulently generated identity card numbers.

Investigations were launched after a report was filled to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit (BFIU) in August 2022, after the managers of the fund detected an unusual spike in Fuliza loan uptakes that were way above their performance scale and the borrowers were not repaying the loans.

According to sleuths from BFIU, over 123,000 new mobile phone numbers opted into fuliza and took up loans in January 2022. Thereafter, the SIM cards were either fraudulently vacated or switched off and efforts to reach the customers turned futile.

Further investigations established that the SIM cards had been registered fraudulently by one of the suspects identified as Peter Gitahi, who is suspected to have access to the National Registration Bureau database, where detectives believe he develops falsified identity numbers used in the high-profile fraud.

Preliminary investigations indicate that after developing the numbers and registering the lines he would sell them to his accomplices based in Nakuru who would then perpetuate the fraud. Further, the detectives uncovered that some of the lines had been registered as Safaricom agents where the borrowed funds would be deposited to personal bank accounts belonging to the individuals, disguised as Mpesa float.

The seemingly industrious suspects would initially borrow money and repay thereby improving their credit scores until the SIM cards achieved their limits when they would borrow for the last time before disposing of the SIM card.

According to the DCI, one identity card would be used to register 5 lines in the daring SIM scam perpetuated by young men, aged between 24-30 years.

Through this high-profile fraud, the eight men acquired  2 brand-new Subarus, one Toyota Mark X, a Toyota Probox, and two motorbikes for their ease of movement. The operation by the detectives further led to the recovery of  14 mobicom phones used in registering MPESA user SIM cards, 6 laptops over 40 mobile phones, 7 routers, assorted Safaricom lines, over 1000 Safaricom subscribers registration forms, over 200 ATM cards from all major banks, and car agreements among other exhibits.

Detectives are currently interrogating the suspects for more insights into the fraud before arraigning them in court.

Related Content: How To Withdraw Fuliza From An M-Pesa Agent