Police Officer in tears after being conned Ksh597,100 by a swapper

Kasarani Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD), Peter Mwanzo, has narrated how he lost Ksh597,100 to a sim card swapping syndicate.

Mwanzo told the court on Monday, May 23, that on January 4, at 6.45pm he received a phone call from a private number but he did not pick up although the caller kept bugging his phone. He put the phone in flight mode to avoid further disturbance.

He deactivated the flight mode at 6.50pm, but his mobile phone failed to pick up the signal. Mwanzo rechecked his phone at 9pm but it had not yet picked network.

Mwanzo stated that after the problem persisted, he visited sim card outlet in the neighbourhood to get assistance. The attendant, he narrated, informed him that his sim card had failed and advised him to do a replacement.

“She could not tell how I lost the sim card but I did the replacement and it was reactivated. Upon turning on my phone, I was surprised by the messages that started coming in.

“I tried to purchase airtime and send money but the transaction failed and got a message that I had exceeded my limits,” the senior police officer told the court.

“I was shocked that I had even registered a loan and a mobile money account. I had never applied for any loan or registered with the subscriber,” Mwanzo recalled.

He told the court that he does not know how and where the fraudsters obtained his private information to carry out the bank transactions.

The statements indicated that the money was moved in four batches. The police boss noted that although the scammers were in Donholm, Nairobi, the money that was stolen from his account was withdrawn by a third party in Bomet.

Mwanzo requested his mobile money and bank account statements to confirm the alleged transactions.

“To my surprise, on that night, I had transacted from a bank account to mobile money about Ksh597,100,” he stated.

“Someone used my sim card remotely. This is madness and it seemed easy for the third party to use my sim card.”

The Kasarani OCPD was testifying against Gideon Mark before a magistrate’s court in Milimani, Nairobi, where the latter is accused of stealing Ksh597,100 in a sim-swap fraud.