A Kenyan college gang has been hacking into people’s credit cards through email phishing and using the money to buy bitcoin, according to the country’s directorate of criminal investigations (DCI).<\/p>\n
The gang based its criminal operations in Milimani, an upscale estate in Nakuru, a city located 161 km from the capital Nairobi. Email phishing involves the use of emails as baits to steal card numbers and passwords<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Francis Maina Wambui Alias Nick, 26, and Zellic Alusa, 25, both students at Kenyatta University were arrested during the raid in the company of two young ladies,” DCI says<\/a>.<\/p>\n Five laptops, four smartphones, two wifi gadgets, three hard drives, and assorted SIM cards were recovered during the arrest.<\/p>\n The gang targets credit cards of people living in foreign countries but Kenyans have also lost money from banking-related cybercrime. Total losses rose from $210 million<\/a> in 2017 to $295 million<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n The scammers use the money to fund lavish lifestyles and purchase property. Among the documents recovered in the house was a land sale agreement entered on May 25, for a property valued at $8,000 in Juja, a 21-minute drive from Kenyatta University. Even as the world experiences a crypto crash<\/a>, seeing market valuation going down by 30% since last week and crypto firms halting withdrawals<\/a>, crypto still remains attractive for hackers looking to conceal their crimes. The Nakuru hackers withdraw the bitcoins in Kenya shillings.<\/p>\n Around the world, fraudsters are increasingly using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to launder money. A report by Chainalysis shows that in 2021, criminals laundered $8.6 billion<\/a> in crypto. They take advantage of the anonymity cryptos provide to cover up the origin of illicit funds.<\/p>\n Just three days before the raid, the Kenyan government launched<\/a> a cyber forensic lab to curb the use of modern technology to conduct criminal activities. However, Kenya’s war on cybercrime has been weakened by poor legal structures<\/a> where prosecutors and judges struggle to understand sophisticated cyberattacks.<\/p>\n In recent years, Kenya has been a hacking hotspot in the eastern Africa region. In 2019, eight Kenyans were arrested<\/a> in Kigali, Rwanda while attempting to hack into the payment systems of Equity Bank, the region’s largest bank in assets and deposits. In 2017, a computer expert was charged with hacking into the Kenya Revenue Authority database and stealing $39 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last November, a 22-year-old man was arrested in Bomet<\/a>—a town located in Kenya’s riftvalley—for hacking 481 bank accounts and making away with $400,000. Two hackers were arrested in 2020 for gaining unauthorized access to the National Transport Safety Authority which allowed them to launder cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the country’s Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act, anyone found guilty of manipulating a payments system to steal money is only jailed for two years or fined $2,000.<\/p>\n Kenyan banks are losing over $121 million<\/a> every year to fraudsters through identity theft according to a 2021 digital fraud report by Credit Reporting agency, TransUnion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBitcoin Increased crypto use in Kenya attracts scammers<\/h2>\n
Bitcoin Kenya is cracking down on crypto crimes<\/h2>\n