This archive report was first published on 10 June 2020.
On May 16, Dr Ian Chessa transferred Sh51,000 to a paybill account provided by John Maingi, who had advertised a washing machine on online marketing platform Pigiame. The payment was made through M-Pesa after a phone conversation in which Maingi promised to deliver the item to Dr Chessa's house in Nyayo Estate, Embakasi.
However, Dr Chessa never received the machine, and upon enquiry, he discovered he had been defrauded. He reported the matter at Embakasi Police Station.
According to Detective Corporal Lucy Nduati of Embakasi DCI offices, preliminary investigations established that the paybill number used by Maingi is operated by NCBA bank limited, and the phone number is looped to an existing NCBA account.
Corporal Nduati sought court orders to enable her to access NCBA bank accounts looped to the number used by Maingi, as well as other details. The orders were granted by Senior Resident Magistrate Lewis Gatheru.
NCBA and Airtel were ordered to furnish Corporal Nduati with particulars of Maingi's mobile banking registration details, including date and time the mobile banking was made, and details of the mobile subscriber numbers registered at the bank.
