Woman impersonating safaricom staffer arrested for fraud
A 48year old woman who allegedly cheated a Mpesa attendant into transferring 149, 950 to her accomplice’s phone number was charged with obtaining money by cheating contrary to section 315 of the penal code.
Lucy Muthoni is accused of committing the offence on July 13 this year at Duchcom Limited Maryam shop in Kiamaiko within Mathare sub-county in Nairobi jointly with others not before the court.
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Charges against Muthoni read that “with intent to defraud and while purporting as a Safaricom staff confirming details of a commission earned, tricked Rahma Abdi Mare the Mpesa agent operator into dialing codes only for her to realize she had sent Sh149, 950 to Gladys Ndama Mwathe”.
Muthoni is facing an additional charge of personation contrary to section 382 (1) of the penal code as read with section 36 of the same code, where she is accused of claiming to be an employee of Safaricom Limited.
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The court heard that with intent to defraud, Ms Muthoni presented herself as a Safaricom staffer confirming commission earned to Ms. Mare at her shop on July 13.
Ms. Mare received a call from a strange caller who identified herself as a Safaricom employee, confirming the commission she had earned from her transactions.
She was directed to dial some codes on the Mpesa phone, and she complied only to realise that she had transferred the money to Ms. Mwathe’s number.
She reported the matter at the Huruma police station and Safaricom customer care.
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Safaricom security division followed up with the matter leading to the arrest of Ms. Muthoni within the Dandora area.
Ms. Muthoni denied the charges before Resident Magistrate Mercy Thibaru and pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms through an advocate. She was released on a cash bail of Sh50, 000.
The case will be mentioned on December 15 before the hearing starts in April 2023.
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