The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has announced the arrest of six more people, among them Safaricom staff, interns and agents, in connection with electronic fraud targeting Kenyan Saccos, which led to the loss of Ksh 70 million.
On Tuesday, detectives from the Serious Crimes Unit had arrested two Kenyans, Zahra Ahmed, Abdullazac Rajab and a Ugandan, Gabantu Patrick Emmanuel over the fraud. Several passports were recovered. Among the Saccos that fell victim are Safaricom, Bamburi and Stima, the DCI said on its Twitter handle.
Those arrested since then are Jason Amayo, Arnold Orupia Okello, Silas Shihundu, John Wangila, Sylvanus Nyapera and Rodgers Wanyonyi, the DCI tweeted.
The arrest of Safaricom employees and agents comes barely days after the telco revealed in its 2018 sustainability report that it dismissed 43 employees in the year to March for fraud related incidents, a drop from the 52 in the previous year.
The company, one of the few that disclose in detail the number of fraud related dismissals made each year, also issued 10 disciplinary warnings to staff.
“While it is difficult to accept any number of disciplinary actions and dismissals, we are satisfied with our ability to detect and investigate unethical behaviour. Regrettably, we recognise that it is unlikely a business the size of ours will ever be free from fraud entirely and that the better we get at detecting it, the more effectively it is concealed,” says Safaricom in the report.
In July, two suspects, one of them said to be a Safaricom employee, Maurice Musoti, and Rian Abaga Nyagaka, a fourth year engineering student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology were arrest over SIM Swap fraud.
Detectives recovered one Laptop make Apple, 2,160 unused Safaricom SIM cards, 44 used Safaricom SIM cards, 5 till agent numbers, 3 M-Pesa booklets, internet booster router, two mobile phones — a blackberry and Samsung J7.
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Financial institutions, including mobile money operators, in the country have in recent years been losing billions of shillings to fraudsters, who include foreigners.
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