The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has uncovered a high-level syndicate where scammers have obtained close to KSh500 million through Safaricom’s Fuliza.
The giant mobile telephony firm lost the money in a well coordinated scheme by eight young men based in Nakuru and Trans-Nzoia counties.
Isaack Kipkemoi, Gideon Rono, Maxwell Ributhu, Gideon Kirui, Moses Rono, Collins Kipyegon and Edwin Cheruiyot were arrested at an apartment in Kiamunyi, Nakuru, while the mastermind Peter Gitahi was arrested in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia County following an operation by DCI detectives.
The young men, who were found in possession of thousands of Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards, were using fraudulently generated identity card numbers to register the SIM cards before proceeding to borrow money through the application.
Sleuths began investigations into the fraud after a report was filled at the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit in August 2022. Fuliza management had noted an unusual spike in loan uptakes that were way above their performance scale for borrowers whow were not repaying the loans.
According to BFIU investigators, more than 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.
Investigations confirmed that the SIM cards had been fraudulently registered by one of the suspects identified as Peter Gitahi, who is suspected to have access to the National Registration Bureau database. Gitahi is behind the falsified identity numbers used in the high-profile fraud.
Upon developing the fake ID numbers and registering the lines, he would sell them to his accomplices in Nakuru from where they executed the fraud.
The suspects had bought vehicles and motorbikes which were impounded by the DCI officers.
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 to increase their borrowing limit then borrow for the last time before disposing the SIM card.
One identity card would be used to register up to five lines in the daring SIM scam perpetuated by the suspects aged between 24 to 30 years.
Detectives found 54 mobile phones, six laptops, seven routers, assorted Safaricom lines, over 1,000 Safaricom subscribers registration forms, over 200 ATM cards and car sale agreements, among other items.
