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Detectives based in Thika have apprehended a notorious sim swap fraudster, Emmanuel Kiprono, who was caught red-handed attempting to replace a SIM card using forged documents at a Safaricom shop. The arrest is part of a crackdown on a mobile money theft ring believed to be operating across Kenya.
Kiprono was apprehended while in possession of a forged ID waiting card and a police abstract form purportedly issued by Central Police Station-Nairobi. His arrest led detectives to a residence in Zimmerman, where a cache of incriminating evidence was discovered, including a mobile phone used for sim registration, assorted sim replacement cards, forged police abstract forms, waiting cards with different names, an Mpesa till number application booklet, and multiple counterfeit ID cards.
This arrest closely follows that of his accomplice, Everline Alulu Kimani, who was taken into custody on September 19, 2023. Alulu was arrested under similar circumstances, attempting to obtain sim replacement services from a Safaricom shop using forged documents. Police found paper writings containing confidential customer information at her residence in Komarock-Nairobi.
Kiprono and Alulu are suspected to be part of a criminal group known as the “Mulot team,” which specifically targets individuals with substantial mobile money balances. Once they gain control of their victims’ phone numbers through sim swaps, they proceed to drain their mobile money accounts.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) commended the vigilant Safaricom attendants who alerted the police to these suspicious activities and called on the public to collaborate in combating crime.
