8 suspects behind Ksh500M Fuliza fraud arrested in Nakuru

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 8 Feb, 2023 20:06 | 3 mins read
Isaack Kipkemoi, Gideon Rono, Maxwell Ributhu, Gideon Kirui, Moses Rono, Collins Kipyegon and Edwin Cheruiyot were arrested at an apartment in Kiamunyi. PHOTO/DCI/Facebook

Police in Nakuru have arrested eight suspects behind close to Ksh500 million Fuliza fraud.

According to police, the high-level syndicate was found in possession of 123,000 new mobile phone numbers opted into Fuliza in January 2022.

"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, Trans-Nzoia County following the meticulous operation by our officers.

"The young men who were found in possession of thousands of Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards were using fraudulently generated identity cards numbers to register the SIM cards before proceeding to borrow money through the application," police said in a statement.

The law enforcers began investigations into this well-choreographed fraud after a report was filed 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.

Items recovered during police operation. PHOTO/DCI/Facebook

Thereafter, the SIM cards were either fraudulently vacated or switched off and efforts to reach the customers turned futile.

"It is after further investigations that detectives realized 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 he develops falsified identity numbers used in the high profile fraud," police stated.

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.

Growing Fuliza limit

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 the SIM card.

"One identity card would be used to register 5 lines in the daring SIM scam perpetuated by the young men, aged between 24-30 years," police narrated.

Inside the house where the suspects lived in Nakuru. PHOTO/DCI/Facebook

The suspects, who live large in an apartment at Kiamunyi, have through their craft acquired two brand new Subarus, one Toyota Mark X, a Toyota Probox, and two motorbikes for their ease of movement.

"During the operation, the detectives recovered 14 mobicom phones used in registering MPESA user SIM cards, 6laptops over 40 mobile phones, 7 routers, assorted Safaricom lines, over 1000 Safaricom subscribers registration forms, over 200 ATM cards from all major banks, car agreements among other exhibits.

"Detectives are currently interrogating the suspects for more insights into the high level fraud before arraigning them in court," police added.

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