Mulot scammer apprehended
Mulot, a small trading centre along the Narok- Bomet County border, has returned to public limelight, not for anything good this time round but still for the worst.
Day after day, the fraudsters who operate from this centre, which has been flagged as the hotspot for fraudsters and Simcard swappers in the country, have devised new tricks of conning gullible Kenyans, the latest one being an alleged swindling of millions from customers’ bank accounts.
On Sunday, detectives arrested the alleged mastermind behind the disappearance of over Sh45 million from bank accounts belonging to unsuspecting customers.
Nabbed by police
Nelson Kipkemoi, 22, is said to have been nabbed by banking fraud detectives at his hideout in Mulot after he was linked to a web of fraudsters siphoning money from customers’ bank accounts.
The suspect is said to have been targeting bank accounts operated by a leading bank in the country, and is reported to have fraudulently acquired money from accounts belonging to 481 customers, who are on mobile banking platforms.
He was due to appear in court yesterday.
While it is not clear how the fraudsters succeed in swindling the money, those in the know claim they might be working in cahoots with staff from these financial institutions and target customers with substantial amounts in their accounts, a claim that cannot be fully verified.
“For someone to transfer your money from a bank account it means they have your account details or are being aided by some individuals working there to execute the mission and later share the spoils,” said the source.
The shrewd cons who have expanded their network and changed tact along the way after their criminal acts were exposed are now targeting banking institutions.
An official in one of the banking institutions in Bomet county confided to us that the cases of money being lost mysteriously from accounts have increased in the recent past pointing to such cases of banking fraud.
The official, however, stated that with the help of mobile service providers they have managed to shut the affected accounts pending physical verifications by the account holders.
Lost money
Asked who will shoulder the burden in such a scenario, the source pointed out that while it is not the bank to carry the blame, customers can only wait for the determination of such court cases to recover the lost money.
“In such a case, the customers have to wait for the court’s ruling so that they can recover their money which is also not a guarantee,” said the source. This latest incident has now opened the lid on the shady deals that happen in this centre with no agency banking services, the would-be investors having fled and the few operating Mpesa outlets being forced to operate with total wariness.
