A 23-year-old bodaboda rider, who has been masquerading online as Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s spouse, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, is in police custody for fraudulently obtaining money from unsuspecting Kenyans.
Mr Blaise Wafula obtained over Sh280,000 from various people by offering non-existent education and business loans through Mpesa, court documents indicate.
At the time of his arrest and arraignment in a Nairobi court, he had conned at least 200 people through social media.
The suspect had opened 14 Facebook parody accounts using the name of the DP’s spouse. The accounts have huge following as the least has 7,000 followers and the highest 27,000 followers.
It is alleged that he used to charge the applicants of the supposed loans Sh700 for registration fees and Sh2500 for application.
According to court documents by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), those interested were promised loans ranging from Sh10,000 to Sh200,000.
He was arrested at his hideout in Soy, Uasin Gishu county, by DCI sleuths who tracked him using cyber forensic analysis of digital data.
Among the exhibits recovered from him by the DCI are four mobile phones, three national identity cards of different persons and four simcards.
The suspect was jointly charged alongside his co-accused Jacklyne Tokesi, before Milimani Law Courts chief magistrate Lucas Onyina with impersonation.
They were also charged with fraudulently using electronic data contrary to Section 38 (2) of Computer misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018.
They are accused of creating Facebook accounts between December 2022 and January 8, 2023 in relation to Mama Care Initiative Loan.
In the second count, they were charged with conspiring to commit an offence and the third count was that of obtaining Sh700 fraudulently from one Esther Waweru pretending they would register her with Mama Care Initiative to secure a loan.
According to the charge sheet, they pretended that they would register Ms Waweru to secure Mama Care Initiative Loan associated with the DP’s spouse.
State prosecutor Anderson Gikunda said that the actual amounts fraudulently obtained from unsuspecting loan applicants will be disclosed at the trial as police are compiling the figures.
Cases of people impersonating prominent persons on social media and obtaining money fraudulently are on the rise in the recent past as DCI continues to crack whip on the vice. Since December, three people have been charged in court.
In December last year Mr Collins Kipleting, a 22-year-old artiste was fined Sh50,000 by a Milimani magistrate court after pleading guilty to creating a fake Facebook account and for impersonating Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
He hails from Uasin Gishu County.
In January, the DCI arrested Mr Calvince Otieno Odhiambo for impersonating the Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Eliud Owalo by creating a Facebook account and posing as the CS.
It was alleged that he was promising business opportunities, employment and empowerment programs to unsuspecting Kenyans.
He was arrested in Rongo, Migori county and released after the CS wrote to the DCI withdrawing a complaint.
