‘Mulot team’ SIM swap suspect arrested in Thika
Emmanuel Kirpono, a man suspected to be engaging in sim swap fraud has been apprehended by investigators based in Thika. The arrest occurred when the suspect presented himself at a Safaricom shop seeking SIM card replacement services while in possession of counterfeit identification documents, specifically, a falsified ID waiting card and a purportedly issued police abstract form from Central Police Station, Nairobi.
Following an interrogation, Kiprono led the detectives to a house in Zimmerman. During a subsequent search of the house, law enforcement officers discovered an array of incriminating evidence.
This included a mobile device evidently employed for sim card registration, an assortment of sim replacement cards, counterfeit police abstract forms, and waiting cards bearing multiple fictitious identities.
Additionally, recovered items encompassed an M-PESA till number application booklet, as well as several falsified ID cards, among other materials.
The latest arrest closely follows a parallel case involving an accomplice, Everline Alulu Kimani, who was taken into custody on September 19, 2023, and subsequently arraigned.
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SIM card replacement services
Her arrest paralleled the modus operandi witnessed in Kiprono’s case, with Kimani having sought SIM card replacement services at a Safaricom shop, too. She, too, employed counterfeit documentation, evidently with the sole purpose of perpetrating theft from the mobile money wallets of unsuspecting victims.
Further evidence of the gravity of these offenses, handwritten materials containing confidential customer information were discovered within Kimani’s residence, situated in Komarock-Nairobi.
The two individuals, Kiprono and Kimani, are believed to be affiliated with a group known colloquially as the “Mulot team.” This syndicate is notorious for targeting individuals possessing substantial mobile money balances.
Upon gaining control of their victims’ phone numbers through sim-swapping tactics, they subsequently initiate unauthorized transfers, effectively draining their victims’ accounts.
The DCI is lauding vigilant Safaricom attendants, who promptly alerted law enforcement authorities to the presence of suspicious individuals.
