• Kinoti said the gang has been hacking people’s credit cards before using them to purchase bitcoins and then converting them to Kenyan currency.
• They then use the money to live lavishly, entertain young women and buy properties.
Image: DCI
Detectives have arrested two Kenyatta University students who are part of a gang operating a Bitcoin theft scheme.
According to the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, Francis Maina Wambui alias Nick, 26, and Zellic Alusa, 25, were arrested at Milimani in Nakuru City, where they have been operating from.
Kinoti said the gang has been hacking people’s credit cards before using them to purchase bitcoins and then converting them to Kenyan currency.
They then use the money to live lavishly, entertain young women and buy properties.
"The gang operating from houses in the affluent Milimani neighborhood has been on our radar over the past few days and it was only a matter of time before our detectives smoked them out," he said.
"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."
The two were arrested in the company of two young ladies, detectives said.
Some of the things recovered during the raid that led to their arrest include; a land sale agreement entered on May 25, for a property valued at Sh850,000 in Juja.
Other items recovered were; five laptops, four mobile phones, two Wi-Fi 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," Kinoti added.
The arrest comes a few days after President Uhuru Kenyatta called on the DCI to strengthen the Cyber and Digital forensic lab to deal with contemporary crimes that involve misuse of technology, during the launch of the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, on June 13.
Senior security chiefs and digital experts in early June converged in Naivasha to fine-tune the cyberspace security strategy to protect the country from emerging local and global threats.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i described the strategy as critical in coordinating intelligence-based protection against threats and vulnerabilities to the country’s ICT infrastructure and systems.
He said the new strategy will help deal with emerging global cybercrimes that pose serious investigative and prosecution challenges to security teams.
“We are dealing with all manner of cases of people operating either from our country or other countries, maligning or interfering with political systems. This strategy couldn’t have come at the right time, because it will enable us to start building capacities in our institutions to help police the cyberspace,” the CS said.
Image: DCI