Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested a 26-year-old Meru University dropout, Seth Mwabe, in connection with a cyber-heist targeting a betting firm, in which Ksh11.4 million was siphoned.
Mwabe was dramatically arrested on Saturday evening, August 30, at his residence in Tatu City, Kiambu County, by officers attached to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit. Detectives were forced to break into his apartment after he declined to open the door.
Inside, they uncovered a sophisticated computer laboratory, a money-counting machine, and a secure safe, signaling a well-coordinated cybercrime operation.
According to Central Region Criminal Investigations Officer Abraham Mugambe, the betting firm lodged a complaint in July, prompting the DCI to launch a probe. Investigators established that Mwabe bypassed the security systems of the firm’s payment service provider, executing a scheme that allowed him to divert millions undetected.
Seth Mwabe
“This year in July, a report was made to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit in Nairobi that a payment service provider had lost Ksh11.4 million through fraudulent means,” Mugambe explained.
“Investigations revealed that the fraud was perpetrated through bypassing the payment provider’s security systems, successfully defrauding the complainant.”
Mwabe, who markets himself online as a cybersecurity engineer and consultant, told investigators that he abandoned his studies at Meru University during his second year.
He is currently being held at Capitol Hill Police Station as detectives await directions from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on charges to be preferred under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
The arrest comes in the wake of a broader crackdown on financial and cyber-related crimes. Just days earlier, DCI officers arrested two women in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area with counterfeit US currency valued at Ksh70 million. The suspects, identified as Ifrah Ali Jeyte and Qamar Salat Abdi, were found with $560,000 in fake $100 notes hidden inside a handbag.
As the DCI intensifies its surveillance on cyber fraud and financial scams, Mwabe’s case is expected to test the country’s resolve in tackling tech-enabled crime syndicates.
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