By Lauryne Akoth
Two female suspects were arrested by detectives based in Kiambaa for defrauding their employer Kshs 15.6M within 18 months.
The two ladies, Judy Muringe Mugo aged 41, and Catherine Waithera Ruiru aged 26 will be arraigned in Kiambu Law Courts on Wednesday, March 13th. The two were working as a marketing officer and receptionist respectively for a Real estate company, Goshen’s Real Estate based in Kiambu Ruaka Township.
The computer fraud case was reported on 23rd January 2024 by the company’s Director, Mr Andrew Kirumba.
Judy Mugo, the then company’s marketing officer was accused of duping Goshens Real Estate 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.
Judy, fulfilling the role of marketing officer and tenant liaison, was entrusted with issuing receipts to tenants for their bill payments however, she announced that the company’s pay bill and bank account were no longer operational.
Instead, she instructed payments to be made to the OPPO phone and number provided by the company for marketing purposes.
After receiving 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 Family Bank.
To conceal her actions and avoid detection by management, Judy collaborated with the receptionist, Catherine Waithera. Together, they tampered with the numbers in the company’s system to falsely indicate that tenants had no outstanding arrears.
As part of their agreement, Judy would compensate Catherine, her accomplice, with an unfair portion of the stolen funds. This scheme persisted from June 2022 to January 2024. The detectives commenced investigations by recording statements of all affected tenants, then sought orders from a Kiambu court to investigate the concerned banks and mobile money transactions.
Upon acquiring the mobile transaction and bank statements, it was verified that the marketing officer diverted the rent payments received through the office line to her numbers 0705736*** and 0741***559. Subsequently, she transferred these funds to her Family bank account numbers 042000007 and 052000008***.
Additionally, within the specified timeframe, she transferred a sum of Sh3,442,200 to the receptionist through Catherine’s mobile number 0712***840, and her KCB account number 1250143***. Investigations by Kiambaa detectives established that Judy had bought a vehicle with part of the money she defrauded the company.
Judy, whose monthly salary amounted to Sh30,000, transferred Sh750,000 to AUTOCAD Motors’ bank account on April 14, 2023. AUTOCAD confirmed this as payment for a Toyota Harrier with registration number KBH 252S, purchased from their dealership.
Verification through the NTSA database confirmed Judy’s ownership of the vehicle until January 25, 2024, when Kiambaa detectives summoned her for questioning. Attempting to evade justice, Judy, who had been released on bail pending the completion of investigations, subsequently transferred ownership of the vehicle to Andronicus Mbuthia Kamakia.
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 proceeds of crime, thus preventing its sale or use as collateral in obtaining loans from any financial institution.
The directives implemented on March 6, 2024, resulted in the seizure of both suspects’ mobile phones and the receptionist’s desktop computer. These items have been handed over to the forensic cybercrime unit for thorough examination.
The audit report uncovered the intricately planned scheme. It revealed that the company incurred a total loss of Sh15,633,147.