• Making reports at the police and obtaining an abstract is essential to not only get police assistance in recovering the lost items.
• According to the directorate, making reports at the police and obtaining an abstract is essential to not only get police assistance in recovering the lost items.
Image: COURTESY
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has asked Kenyans to immediately report to police when they lose Identification documents.
The DCI on Tuesday said it is unfortunate that majority of Kenyans do not report to police when they lose personal documents like ID cards, sim cards, phones driving licenses or laptops.
According to the directorate, making reports at the police and obtaining an abstract is essential to not only get police assistance in recovering the lost items.
DCI said this will go a long way in strengthening the victims' defense in case any such documents are subjected to unlawful use by the perpetrators.
This comes amid increased cases where perpetrators use stolen ID and mobile phones to commit crime.
Pursuit of these criminals is in most instances a lengthy procedure calling for Cyber-Forensic Interventions, mostly because perpetrators use different social media/Sim Cards to contact different people, after which they block & delete their accounts upon successful transactions.
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) November 19, 2019
So as to distract police, the criminals leave the documents at the crime scene hence police end up chasing the wrong people.
Last month it was reported that a lost ID card was used to register a phone used in the murder of IJM lawyer Willie Kimani and two others.
Moses Kariithi, who works at SGR, told the court he lost his ID in January 2016.
He reported the matter to Mlolongo police station, where he got an abstract and was advised to visit a Huduma Centre, where he obtained a new ID.
The DCI further asked Kenyans to be cautious over the rise in Cybercrime and online fraud.
"Following overwhelming reports of online fraud to our DCI Offices across the country, we wish to caution members of the public against engaging in Online Transactions with companies, agencies or individuals they have no credible information about to avoid putting at stake their hard-earned money," read part of the notice on their twitter handle.
The department further said rampant cases of fraud include online groups that lure jobless Kenyan youth on promises of getting them jobs locally and abroad.
The unsuspecting youth always find the opportunities too tempting hence end up parting with absurd amounts of money to these tricksters who disappear once payment is done.
"...fraudsters making random calls while posing as service providers to cause panic to unsuspecting victims, informing them of possible security breaches to their bank and M-Pesa accounts hence end up revealing their confidential particulars is also very common," read the notice.
According to the DCI, pursuit of these criminals is in most instances a lengthy procedure calling for Cyber-Forensic Interventions, mostly because perpetrators use different social media or Sim Cards to contact different people.
They are afterward keen to block and delete their accounts upon successful transactions.
The DCI has maintained that they are committed to working with citizens of goodwill in Fighting Crime at all levels through their dedication, Care and integrity.