35-year-old Veronica Nthenge has been charged with using her dead sister’s Identification card (ID) to steal Sh194,000 from M-Pesa.
According to Star, Veronica reportedly transferred the said amount to three accounts thus facing the charges of impersonation, stealing cash and stealing a Nokia phone belonging to Kideye Mohammed worth Sh5,000.
Appearing before Makadara Senior Principal Magistrate Angelo Kithinji, Veronica pleaded not guilty and was released on Sh50,000 bail. The case has been set for hearing on August 21, 2020.
The incident is reported to have taken place in Eastleigh, Nairobi on April 13, 2020.
Police reports indicate that the accused’s husband, Samwel Kiba made a call to a friend requesting him to hire his car to the wife for 9 days. During the time of signing the car hire document, the accused introduced herself as Cecilia Ndinge.
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Apparently, on the same day, she visited an M-Pesa shop in Eastleigh and deposited Sh150 to the name Cecilia Ndinge. Upon leaving, the owner of the shop realized that the phone he was using to transact was missing and called his administrator for assistance only to be informed that the float had already been transferred to three different mobile numbers.
The CCTV footage from the shop aided in the investigations as it indicated the model of car that the accused was using thus circulated as investigations were ongoing.
A few days later, the vehicle used in the theft was intercepted by police officers and traced to the accused leading to her arrest. The police are said to have also recovered two IDs, one that was used in the M-Pesa transaction and the other belonging to the accused.
Earlier last month, the DCI had issued a warning over the surge in the number of online scammers and fraudsters. DCI boss Kinoti called on Kenyans to be vigilant while making online transactions as well as using cashless pay.
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