Crackdown on Sim swap fraudsters intensifies as DCI arrests another suspect

Several IDs, sim cards, and forged police abstracts were recovered at the suspect's house in Zimmerman, Nairobi.
[iStockphoto]

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested another suspected sim swap fraudster as the crackdown on the fraudsters gains momentum.

The suspect, identified as Emmanuel Kiprono was arrested in Thika on Wednesday, September 27, after he presented himself to a Safaricom shop for sim replacement services while using a forged Identification Card (ID) and a police abstract purportedly from Central Police Station in Nairobi.

"Upon interrogation, Kiprono led detectives to a house in Zimmerman where a mobile phone used for sim registration, assorted sim replacement cards, forged police abstract forms and waiting cards bearing different names, an Mpesa till number application booklet, several ID cards among other items were recovered," DCI said on X.

This comes less than a week after another sim swap fraudster identified as Everline Alulu Kimani was arrested and arraigned in court, also after presenting herself to a Safaricom shop while seeking similar services.

Alulu was also armed with forged documents.

During the raid, paper writings bearing confidential customer information were recovered from her Komarock house in Nairobi.

"Kiprono and Alulu are believed to be a detachment of the infamous Mulot team who target individuals with large mobile money balances and once they take over the victims' phone numbers, they can drain off their accounts," DCI said.

At the same time, the DCI thanked mobile operator Safaricom attendants who alerted police in good time, appealing to members of the public to partner with police to cripple online frauds.