Police have been allowed to hold a man suspected of hacking into an electronic payments platform and transferring more than Sh49 million.
Officers from the financial investigation unit were allowed to detain Joseph Momanyi at Muthaiga Police Station for a week to complete investigations into the hacking allegations.
Through Nickson Ngigi, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) claimed that Mr Momanyi hacked into the financial system of Web Tribe - the owner of JamboPay - between July 19 and 24, 2024.
After gaining access to the JampoPay client portal, the hackers transferred about Sh49 million from the account to Safaricom mobile numbers (M-Pesa wallets), several bank accounts and till numbers.
The police officer said Mr Momanyi was being investigated for computer fraud contrary to Section 26 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act and also for money laundering.
The officer claimed that Mr Momanyi had confessed that he was not working alone and had allegedly agreed to assist investigators track down and arrest his accomplices.
He also said he needed time to subject Momanyi’s mobile phones to digital forensic examination to extract any information that would be useful in the investigation.
“That he is a member of a bigger crime syndicate. His alleged cooperation cannot be overlooked noting that he is the one who knows his accomplices,” Mr Ngigi said in an affidavit filed in court.
He also said he needed time to subject his mobile phones to digital forensic examination to extract all and any information that would be useful in the investigation.
“That he is a member of a bigger crime syndicate. His alleged cooperation cannot be overlooked noting that he is the one who knows his accomplices,” Mr Ngigi said in an affidavit filed in court.
Mr Ngigi further claimed that Mr Momanyi could interfere with the investigations if he is set free.
The matter, he said, was reported by Web Tribe Limited, which provides alternative payment methods to local and global merchants.
“After gaining access to the JampoPay client portal through legitimate customer profiles of Korapay, Finera and JamboPay transaction merchant account, the system attacker changed and disabled the client’s mobile numbers that received transaction notification (OTP) and thereby effected the transactions,” he said.
Mr Ngigi said Momanyi actively facilitated the commission of the offence by procuring, recruiting individuals to operate or purchase the subject bank accounts thereby enabling the illicit transfer of the funds.
“The suspect has demonstrated a pattern of deliberate evasion, utilising mobile numbers registered in the names of other individuals and using WhatsApp calls, which constitute a clear intent to evade detection and apprehension,” he said.
Mr Momanyi was arrested on April 12 at his residence in Kahawa West, where the police also recovered assorted SIM cards registered under various individuals as well as multiple phones and a laptop. The police want to trace the owners and users of the SIM cards.
