The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday this week made it public that they had arrested an additional six suspects in connection with the hacking of a number of SACCOs’ systems that led to the theft of millions. This was after the DCI had arrested Ugandan Gabantu Patrick Emmanuel and two Kenyans, Zahra Ahmed and Abdullazac Rajab for defrauding Kenyan SACCOs, among them Safaricom Sacco, Bamburi Sacco and Stima Sacco millions of shillings.
Among the additional six arrested, were Safaricom staff, interns and agents, says the DCI. We, however, did not get to know how many of the six are actually affiliated with Safaricom as all we got were their names; Jason Amayo, Arnold Orupia, Okello Silas, Shihundu John, Wangila Sylvanus Nyapera and Rodgers Wanyonyi.
During their sustainability report, Safaricom announced that they had let go of 43 employees due to fraud cases. The company also noted that there was a rise in fraud and corruption cases amongst its employees, with 57 cases of corruption being reported this financial year, up from 33 last year.
The issue of SACCOs and banks losing money to criminals through cyber crimes has been on the rise fuelled by substandard systems that are currently in use. SACCOs have also been accused of covering up hacks with the fear of losing their members.
