How Two Women Tricked Ruaka Tenants & Stole Ksh15.6M From Their Boss- DCI

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) based in Kiambaa will on Wednesday, March 13 arraign at Kiambu Law Courts two female suspects who stole over Ksh15.6 million from their employer within 18 months, in a classic case of conspiracy and modern-day computer fraud. 

DCI revealed in a statement that the two women worked as the Marketing Officer and Receptionist at a real estate company based in Kiambu's Ruaka township.

In the case reported at DCI Kiambaa offices on January 23, 2024, by the company's Director, the first suspect was accused of duping the company's tenants into disregarding the pay bill and bank account provided on their lease agreement forms while remitting monthly rent, and instead insisted on them using the company office line which she manned.

Being the marketing officer who also acted as liaison with the tenants and was charged with the responsibility of issuing receipts to tenants who remitted their bill payments, she declared the company pay bill and bank account "no longer functional", before directing that payments be channelled to a mobile phone and number that the company issued to her for marketing purposes.

After receiving the hundreds of thousands in rent, water bills and other payable services through the office line, the 41-year-old would then transfer the money to her two personal phone numbers, thereafter transacting through mobile banking to her two accounts held at a local bank.

"To cover her trail and ensure that the management did not notice any irregularities, she would then conspire with the receptionist, who manipulated numbers in the company's system to indicate that no tenants had any arrears.

"For doing this, the 26-year-old partner in crime would receive from the first suspect her unfair share of the stolen amount. This went on from June 2022 to January 2024," stated the DCI in part.

Hitting the ground running, the detectives commenced investigations by recording statements of all the affected tenants, then sought orders from a Kiambu court to investigate the concerned banks and mobile money transactions. 

DCI added that when the mobile transaction and bank statements were obtained, it was confirmed that indeed the marketing officer would channel the rent received through the office line to two of her numbers, then later channel the same to two of her bank account numbers.

"In the establishments, she had also transferred Ksh3,442,200 to the receptionist through her mobile number and also her bank account number within the period in question.

"The painstaking probe also established that Judy, whose monthly salary was Ksh30,000, had on April 14, 2023, channelled Ksh750,000 to a car dealer bank account, which the dealer confirmed to have been payment for a Toyota Harrier bought from their yard. A search in the NTSA database confirmed that she was the legitimate owner of the car until January 25, 2024, a date when Kiambaa detectives summoned her to their offices," added the DCI.

To defeat justice, the first suspect, who was released on bail pending completion of investigations, had thereafter transferred the vehicle to a male individual.

With these findings, the investigators sought a search warrant for the suspect's home where the Toyota Harrier was found parked.

The filed miscellaneous application also sought orders to impound and detain the vehicle and treat it as a proceed of crime, thus preventing its sale or use as collateral in obtaining loans from any financial institutions. 

DCI added that the orders executed on March 6, 2024, also saw both suspects' phones and the desktop used by the receptionist confiscated, and the same have since been submitted to the forensic cybercrime unit for detailed analysis.

Audit reports in the well-orchestrated scheme reveal that the company lost a total of Ksh15.6 million. Further, it was established that the receptionist manipulated figures in the system by inserting nonexistent mobile money codes before the first suspect produced and issued fake receipts to the tenants which she obtained from a cyber cafe in Ruaka.

With the police hot on their trail and hell-bent on fleeing the country, the two suspects recently obtained travel documents in record time, and detectives who analyzed their communication believe they were determined to flee to Canada where they have a contact.

DCI stated that for their crimes, several charges including stealing by servant, conspiracy to defraud and computer fraud have been preferred.