Hacker who stole Ksh.900k from Mombasa bank arrested

A man who stole Ksh.900,000 from a Mombasa bank after hacking into its systems was on Friday arrested in Nyamondo village in Kisii County's Gucha South area.

Francis Mairura, 22, is said to have breached the bank's systems on December 31, 2022 before sending the cash to six different M-Pesa accounts registered under his name.

"Sleuths based at DCI’s operations support unit trailed the cash which was siphoned through a breach of the Sacco’s IT systems and transferred to six M-Pesa accounts belonging to the suspect," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.

"The high level fraud which occurred on December 31, 2022, was executed between 3:30 to 5pm by the suspect who was at the time oscillating between two houses, one at Witeithie estate in Thika town and the other at Gitambaya in Ruiru."

According to the DCI, Mairura absconded to his rural home in Kisii after realizing that he was on the police's radar.

Detectives however soon caught up to the online fraudster.

"Unbeknownst to him, the sleuths were breathing down his neck and at the devils hour this morning, they raided his village home and smoked him out," said the DCI

Once police combed the suspect's house they recovered Ksh.600,000, three mobile phones and a HP laptop believed to have been used in the hacking.

The suspect has since been ferried to Mombasa where he will be charged for his offences.