A man pleaded guilty to charges of computer fraud in connection with a SIM swap scheme that defrauded members of the public of their money.
The suspect had been arrested after he attempted to swap a SIM card belonging to suspended Nairobi Central Officer Commanding Station Samson Kiprotich Talaam.
Dennis Masavi Musyimi admitted before the court that on June 16, 2025, he willfully procured the replacement of a SIM card belonging to Talaam by impersonating him as the rightful owner.
Musyimi was charged alongside two co-accused, Amos Nzomo Kimanzi and James Mutemi Munyithya, who denied the charges and are set to face full trial.
The three jointly faced a count of computer fraud under Section 26(1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, No. 5 of 2018, for allegedly conspiring between June 16 and 19, 2025, to commit the offence.
The court heard that once the line was fraudulently obtained, it was used to solicit money from unsuspecting members of the public for Musyimi’s personal gain.
In addition to the joint charge, Munyithya faced a separate count of unlawfully using another person’s identity card. Prosecutors said he fraudulently used Kimanzi’s national ID to register SIM card number 0112011882 and to activate a MobiGo handset (serial number 5121004788), which investigators linked to the SIM swap scheme.
Kimanzi, on his part, was accused of knowingly allowing Munyithya to use his identity card for fraudulent purposes, in violation of Section 14(j)(i) of the Registration of Persons Act.
Musyimi also faced an additional charge of obtaining registration by false pretence under Section 320 of the Penal Code, having impersonated former OCS Kiprotich to fraudulently procure the SIM replacement.
The prosecution told the court that the three were part of a wider criminal syndicate engaged in SIM swap fraud and identity theft, with investigations ongoing to trace other suspects believed to be on the run.
Talaam alongside five other suspects have been charged with murder of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang at the station cells.
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