Two suspects in Ksh716,000 SIM swap scam arrested in Nakuru

By , K24 Digital
On Mon, 6 Sep, 2021 11:02 | < 1 min read
Photo used for illustration only. PHOTO/Courtesy
Photo used for illustration only. PHOTO/Courtesy

Two suspects who defrauded a Kiambu couple over Ksh716,000 in a SIM swap scam in June 2021 have been arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The two; Sabina Evelyne Nyanumba who is a student at Egerton University and 19-year-old Paul Nyabero Kilenya were arrested in Nakuru's Njoro sub-county over the weekend.

Their pursuit and subsequent arrest followed the June incident where a woman received a call from an unknown Safaricom number, and was made to believe that she was being engaged by a Safaricom customer care operator.

"In the course of the conversation, the woman had been lured into revealing some personal information, which the fraudsters used to swindle Sh296,652 from her Mpesa and Cooperative Bank accounts.

"The swindlers furthered their felonious agenda to the woman's husband Mpesa and Cooperative Bank accounts, from which they withdrew a total of Sh420,570," DCI said in a statement.

Forensic data analysis by Kiambu-based Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau detectives working jointly with DCI liaison officers at Safaricom headquarters led detectives to the two suspects, from whom the mobile handset used in defrauding the victims was also recovered.

They are being arraigned in Kiambu Law Courts today.