Man in court after transferring Sh15,000 from his friend’s M-Pesa to himself
A man in Nairobi has been charged in court after he allegedly stole his friend’s mobile phone and transferred Sh15,000 to himself, after secretly obtaining his personal identification (PIN) number.
Mr Paul Ochieng is facing charges of intentionally withholding messages delivered erroneously contrary to section 35 of the computer misuse and cybercrime Act of 2018.
He is also accused of intentionally retaining electronic payment of the cash delivered by error via M-Pesa being property of Joseph Kwanja in Umoja estate in Nairobi on July 4, 2023.
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On the day of the incident, Mr Kwanja had met Mr Ochieng on his way home and the accused person asked him for Sh200 to meet some family needs.
The complainant obliged before they proceeded to a nearby bar, where they had drinks together and Mr Kwanja paid for the bill via M-Pesa. It is then that the accused person took down the PIN number.
When the complainant got drunk, Mr Ochieng allegedly took his phone and sent the money to himself before deleting the M-Pesa transaction message from the phone.
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Mr Kwanja went home without noticing the transfer of the cash from his M-Pesa account. The next day he realized that money was missing and requested an M-Pesa mini statement which showed that Sh15,000 had been sent to Mr Ochieng’s account.
Mr Kwanja made several calls to the accused person but the calls went unanswered, prompting him to report the matter at Buruburu Police Station leading to Mr Ochieng’s arrest.
The accused denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwani of the Makadara Law Courts and was released on a cash bail of Sh4,000. The case will be mentioned on September 7, 2023 before hearing starts on December 5, 2023.
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