Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations, a Kenya’s intelligence tasked primarily with intelligence gathering and evidence collection in crimes, has arrested a gang of young men who have been conning people online.
The notorious gang is said to have been hacking people’s credit cards before using them to purchase bitcoins and convert them to Kenyan currency. The culprits were arrested on Thursday, in Nakuru city.
The investigative agency said the gang, which has been operating from houses in the wealthy Milimani neighbourhood in Nakuru , has been on the police radar over the past few days.
Francis Maina Wambui Alias Nick, 26, and Zellic Alusa, 25, both students at Kenyatta university were arrested during the raid in the company of two young ladies, at an apartment in Nakuru’s posh Milimani estate.
In the sophisticated crime that is gaining currency in the country, the students create fake email accounts which they use to hack credit cards of innocent persons especially those living in foreign countries and use them to buy bitcoins which are then converted to Kenyan currency. They then use the money to live lavishly, entertain their lovers and buy properties.
Among the documents recovered in the house was a land sale agreement entered on May, 25, for a property valued at Sh 850,000 in Juja. Other items recovered were five laptops, four mobile phones, two wifi gadgets, three hard drives and assorted SIM cards. Cyber forensic experts have since taken over investigations into the matter for a comprehensive analysis into the sophisticated crime.
In his address during the official opening of the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, President Uhuru Kenyatta, called for the strengthening of the Cyber and Digital forensic lab to deal with contemporary crimes that involve misuse of technology.
Bitcoin is a digital currency which operates free of any central control or the oversight of banks or governments.