Matungulu MP Stephen Mule has expressed shock and fear in court as he narrated how cybercrime hackers are milking dry M-Pesa and bank accounts of unsuspecting citizens.
“Nobody is safe in this country including investors and multinational companies as hackers with immense skills in manipulating people’s bank accounts are on the loose and withdrawing huge sums of money from the accounts without their knowledge,” Mule told Milimani magistrate Gilbert Shikwe on Wednesday.
Mule, a victim of cybercrime, was testifying in a case where job seeker Boniface Kipng’etich Kirui, 22, is accused of stealing Sh133,785 from his M-Pesa and several bank accounts.
The second-term lawmaker told the court that hackers digitally accessed his information before opening new bank accounts electronically and then took out loans without his knowledge.
He said the hackers obtained his identity card number from the information he freely gave when he visited a health centre for Covid-19.
“These hackers are highly skilled as they accessed my information from my treatment records for corona, then accessed my M-Pesa account and then withdrew money,” Mule told the court.
He added: “Apart from my M-Pesa account, the hackers accessed my Timiza, Mshwari, Vooma app, my Kenya Commercial Bank, my KCB M-Pesa, Absa and Co-operative Bank accounts. “
The MP said the hackers milked him clean and borrowed loans from the other financial platforms.
Led in his evidence by state prosecutor Juddy Koech, Mule said the accused confessed to officers of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Cyber Crime Unit how they executed the crime.
Matungulu MP Stephen Mule during a past event in January 2019.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“This accused person can only be helped if he can confess to this court as he has done to DCI officers how they carry out the criminal activities digitally,” Mr Mule said as he concluded his chief witness statement.
The MP said it was a pity that “our educated youth are turning to crime because they cannot get jobs”.
In cross-examination, Kirui asked the MP if his (Kirui’s) name appeared in any of these M-Pesa and bank transactions.
In response, Mule said Kirui’s name did not appear in the transactions because they had electronically forged his national identity card to open the bank accounts from which they withdrew sums of money “as if they were him”.
Kirui has denied stealing from Mule. He was remanded in prison custody until September 27, 2023 when the case will come up for further hearing.
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