”A spreading vice” JKUAT Student Hacks I&M Bank security systems making away with millions

A student from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has been taken to court for fraudulently transferring Ksh.41 million from I&M Bank to his own.

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Timothy Kang’arua is claimed to have devised a complex scheme to defraud the bank using its login credentials in the Safaricom web portal.

According to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), Kang’arua registered over 300 mobile lines using ID cards of unsuspecting Kenyans and opened bank accounts using their details.

The cash was then transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries at the Bank and eventually to Kang’arua’s account.

The agency further noted that initially, the owners of the ID cards appeared like that of beneficiaries.

Kang’arua would later open bank accounts with Equity Bank using the details in the ID cards.

Speaking on the case, detective Jackson Nzau stated that the fraudulent transaction was done in November 2017.

Nzau affirmed: “The players in this complex scheme, included persons in the employment of I&M, who uploaded funds from the Safaricom portal using the bank’s party login credentials to the primary list of beneficiaries mobile phone lines.”

The agency wants the court to issue a preservation order prohibiting him from transacting, withdrawing, transferring funds held in his name at Equity Bank for 90 days.

An affidavit drafted by the agency reads in part, “There are no court orders currently preserving the funds and there is imminent danger the student will dispose of, transfer, withdraw and dissipate the said assets unless this court issues preservation orders as prayed in this application,.”

On November 17, 2017, Lemuel Wanjiru received Ksh827,500. The funds were on the same date transferred to Kang’arua’s account.

On the same day, Simon Wahome received Ksh757,600 while Collins Kaguchia received Ksh897,150. Both tranches were subsequently transferred to Kang’arua’s account.

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