Little-known Mulot centre flagged as hotspot for mobile fraudsters
By People Team, June 30, 2021
Zadock Angira and Felix Yegon
For the umpteenth time, Mulot trading centre in Bomet county has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Yesterday morning, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrested two M-Pesa fraudsters; Enock Kiprono and Ezra Rono, both students of the Cooperative University of Kenya, Karen Campus in Nairobi.
“Following intelligence-led operation, DCI detectives from Dagoretti, in co-operation with sleuths from Serious Crime Unit arrested two suspects,” the DCI said.
Kiprono and Rono were arrested from their rental house in Rongai, Kajiado county.
“Both suspects are from Bomet and have been coordinating with criminals from Mulot.
During the operation, assorted SIM cards and four mobile phones were recovered,” police said.
For the last five years, several suspects, all-hailing from Mulot, have been arrested in connection to SIM swapping, M-Pesa and general fraud.
DCI’s Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau has already flagged Bomet as a hotspot for mobile and bank fraudsters.
The fraudsters do SIM swaps by cloning victim’s accounts before stealing the cash from the account.
In some cases, they use the victim’s details to borrow money from online lending platforms.
Most of them are young and known to be heavy spenders at social joints. Ironically, they never drive sleek cars but instead use boda boda but those who drive own Toyota Probox.
The area, along the Narok-Bomet-Kaplong highway has gained notoriety as the headquarters of mobile money frauds in the country.
The group is mixed with university students and some mere high school dropouts. In March, detectives arrested Joan Cherono 22, Robert Kipngetich 23, Josphat Cheruiyot 27, Ronald Kipng’etich 20 and Cynthia Chepkirui 21 in Kasarani, Nairobi.
Police recovered more than 2,000 SIM cards, 15 mobile phones and a register with names of victims.
Four of the suspects were from Mulot while one of them was from Embu.
The first suspect was arrested in Embu, where the stolen money had been traced, who then led police to Kasarani, according to the then Kasarani OCPD Muthuri Mwongera.
“We traced the money to Embu where the suspects were diverting it and after the arrest, the suspect led us to Lumumba Drive here in Kasarani where we managed to arrest the other five,” Muthuri said after the arrest.
“Safaricom would never ask anyone for their ID number because they have it but these people would ask all those details to access withdrawal money and access your banking details,” he added.
In October 2019, another group of seven suspects were also arrested in Kabete, Kiambu county where police recovered more than 200 SIM cards and several mobile phones.