Arrest illustration A 38-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly defrauding a Chinese national of Sh13 million (USD 101,000) in a well-orchestrated aluminium supply fraud.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the suspect posed as the director of a company, claiming she had the capacity to supply aluminium alloys.
In what detectives described as an elaborate scheme, she furnished the victim with forged shipping documents, including a counterfeit Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certificate of conformity and a falsified bill of lading.
The documents purported that a consignment of 23,890 kilograms of aluminium alloys had been loaded into a 40-foot container at the port of Mombasa, ready for shipment to Ningbo, China.
The unsuspecting victim wired Sh13 million into the woman’s bank account, only for her to switch off her phone and disappear.
“Thanks to diligent investigations and forensic leads, detectives successfully trailed her down to a hideout in Tassia, where she was arrested,” the DCI said in a statement.
The suspect is currently in custody and undergoing processing ahead of her arraignment.
Her arrest comes amid growing concerns over fraud targeting foreigners and mobile money agents across Kenya.
On May 21, DCI detectives from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, working jointly with the Operation Action Team, arrested five suspects linked to widespread mobile money fraud.
The operation followed a surge in complaints from mobile money shop attendants, many of whom reported being defrauded through sophisticated schemes that wiped out their float balances.
DCI Director Mohamed Amin said intelligence-led investigations led to the arrest of suspects from various parts of the country, including Munyaka and Hawaii estates in Eldoret, Kitale’s Tiwani area, Kimumu in Eldoret, and Kibosi in Kisumu.
He added that a Toyota Premio used by the suspects was intercepted and detained.
Several SIM cards registered under different names and multiple mobile phones were recovered during the operation.
“The suspects will be taken around all police stations where mobile money fraud cases have been reported, as part of intensified investigations into their activities,” Amin said.
The DCI continues to urge vigilance, particularly among mobile money agents and foreigners conducting business in the country, warning that fraud syndicates are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
