Police officers in Nakuru County on Wednesday arrested a fraud suspect after withdrawing money from a bank account of an unsuspecting customer.
The suspect, who was later identified as Harun Kigera, reportedly robbed the client Sh540,000.
The arrest came after the police launched a manhunt for the suspect following a complaint from the victim of the fraud.
"HARUN KIGERA; a #Fraud Suspect who Stole Ksh. 540,000 from the Bank Acc of an unsuspecting victim after swapping his Airtel line was yesterday arrested at Molo, Nakuru County following an operation by @DCI_Kenya Criminal Intelligence Bureau Detectives.
The victim was having dined at one of the hotels in Eldoret Town before he was approached by two men and a woman. The suspect told the police that the lady asked him to send him Sh.2000 before she refunded him the same amount.
"While having dinner at a hotel in Eldoret, two men & a lady had joined the victim's table, & after a moment the lady requested the victim to send her Sh2,000 in her Airtel line as she gave him the same amount in cash.
The suspect later noticed that Sh400,000 transferred from her different phone numbers as well as Sh140,000 from his bank account.
"The group had then left shortly after, & it was until the next morning that the victim realized the amount missing from his bank account, with Ksh. 400,000 transferred to various phone numbers, & Ksh.140,000 to the suspect's bank acc. It is suspected that the fraudsters had mastered the victim's PIN as he made the transaction before swapping his line.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has since warned the general public to be careful not to be corned be in such a manner. He said that cases of con artists posing as agents have become rampant in the country.
"The DCI takes this opportunity to warn members of the Public against this kind of Fraud where people are being duped into online transactions in exchange for cash money, & thereby innocently revealing their PIN & Phone Numbers which enable the fraudsters to swap their lines," added DCI.