Nairobi, Kenya — Eight suspects accused of orchestrating a sophisticated Sh500 million fraud scheme targeting Safaricom’s Fuliza overdraft facility appeared before the Milimani Law Courts on Tuesday, July 2, 2025.
The suspects — Isaack Kipkemoi, Gideon Rono, Maxwell Ributhu, Gideon Kirui, Moses Rono, Collins Kipyegon, Edwin Cheruiyot, and the alleged mastermind Peter Gitahi — appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki for a scheduled hearing.
However, the case failed to proceed after the suspects informed the court that their lawyer was absent. The prosecution also lacked witnesses in court and sought an adjournment.
Magistrate Ondieki directed the accused to ensure their legal counsel is present at the next hearing and ordered the prosecution to produce its witnesses. The matter was adjourned to July 17, 2025, for hearing and further directions.
The eight are believed to be part of a well-coordinated syndicate that defrauded the Fuliza service between 2022 and 2023, according to investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The suspects were arrested in separate operations across Nakuru and Trans-Nzoia counties. Seven were apprehended at an apartment in Kiamunyi, Nakuru, while Gitahi was arrested in Kitale.
DCI investigations revealed the group used fraudulently generated national ID numbers to register SIM cards, which were then used to borrow funds from Fuliza before defaulting on repayment.
Thousands of Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards were recovered from the suspects’ possession, along with 14 M-Pesa phones, six laptops, over 40 mobile phones, seven routers, more than 1,000 Safaricom registration forms, over 200 ATM cards from various banks, and car sale agreements.
Detectives say the scheme came to light in August 2022 after Fuliza managers reported an abnormal spike in loan uptake with no repayments to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit (BFIU).
In January 2022 alone, over 123,000 mobile numbers were used to borrow funds from Fuliza, only for the SIM cards to be deactivated, making the borrowers untraceable.
Gitahi is believed to have fraudulently accessed the National Registration Bureau (NRB) database to create fake identities, which were then used to register SIM cards. Some of the SIM cards were activated as M-Pesa agent lines, with borrowed funds disguised as float transactions.
To evade detection, the suspects initially built creditworthiness by borrowing and repaying small amounts before maxing out their limits and abandoning the lines.
By Were Kelly
