Police arrest two Kenyatta University students in Nakuru over Bitcoin fraud

Detectives have arrested two Kenyatta University students who are suspected of being part of a gang that hacks into people’s credit cards and uses them to buy bitcoins, which they then convert into Kenyan money.

The pair were arrested, accompanied by two young women, during a raid on Wednesday at an apartment in the affluent Milimani area of ​​Nakuru, from where they were operating.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI ) claims that two, After exchanging the money, then use it to live lavishly, entertain young women, and buy real estate.

“The gang, who ran out of homes in the affluent Milimani- Operating Quarters has been on our radar for the past few days, and so was she. It was only a matter of time before our detectives smoked her out,” DCI said in a statement.

“By the sophisticated Crime in the country at Bede utation, the students create fake email accounts that they use to hack credit cards of innocent people, especially those in f other countries.”

Some of the items recovered in the raid include an am Land Sale Agreement for Sh850,000 Land in Juja, concluded on May 25th.

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Other items seized were five laptops, four cell phones, two Wi-Fi devices, three hard drives and various SIM cards, all of which are believed to have been their tools of crime.

“Cyber ​​forensics experts have has since taken over the investigation into the matter for a full analysis of the elaborate crime,” added DCI.

In the meantime, the two will remain with the police on remand pending indictment.

< h2>support of Cryptocurrency Transactions

The arrests come just months after the Central Bank of Kenya warned financial institutions that support cryptocurrency transactions that they risk losing their licenses. Speaking at the World Consumer Rights Celebration Day in Mombasa on March 11, CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge warned that financial institutions that support cryptocurrency transactions risk losing their licenses.

“There are people who are passionate about cryptocurrencies, because they see it as an investment they can make money on,” the governor said.

Kenya has never prosecuted anyone for involvement in cryptocurrency fraud.

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The first When CBK came out strongly against cryptocurrency trading was in December 2015, when the bitcoin craze was just in Kenya.

At the time, Safaricom was embroiled in a court case after the mobile giant stopped trading exchanges of Kenyan shillings for bitcoins via the Lipisha platform.

And last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta alerted cybercriminals that the new National Forensic Laboratory in Nairobi will help reduce online crime.

The head of state was speaking at the DCI office in Nairobi after the new facility became operational y.< /p>

“Criminals and their networks use and use advanced technology and interconnectivity to further their nefarious ends. These shifts are the result of globalization and technology. This facility is critical because it will revolutionize our investigative techniques through cutting-edge science, which will result in a safer and more just Kenya,” noted President Kenyatta.

Kenya is currently leading Africa in crypto adoption and ranks fifth according to Chainalaysis in the world ahead of some of the most developed countries like the United States, China, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom.

This insane rush into cryptocurrency trading has not only the Attracting attention from Kenyan investors as well as scammers who have devised get-rich-quick Ponzi schemes posing as cryptocurrency trading platforms. The losses were colossal.