A 20-year-old student at the Mount Kenya University is facing fraud charges after he was accused of hacking into Sidian Bank accounts and making away with over Sh7.8 million.
Collins Mutuma, a Bachelor of Education (Science) student, is accused of orchestrating the heist in which Sh7,882,845 was transferred from various Sidian Bank accounts into a Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) account believed to belong to him.
The suspect allegedly collaborated with other unknown individuals to complete the fraud which took place on January 11, 2025, at an undisclosed location in Kenya.
“On January 11, 2025, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, jointly with others not before court, you conspired with intent to defraud Sidian Bank of Sh7,882,845 by unlawfully siphoning funds from various bank accounts domiciled at the said bank,” read the charge sheet.
According to investigators, the well calculated cyber theft targeted the bank’s internal systems and customer accounts. One of the affected accounts belonged to a customer identified as Peninah Karoki, from which Sh471,302 was allegedly stolen.
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The funds were later traced to the 20-year-old’s DTB account before they were transferred to other people. Mutuma transferred Sh300,000 to Dominic Gichiri Kagwina, and another Sh169,000 to an Mpesa number registered under Samuel Mukola Matheka.
Investigators believe the transfer was a way of concealing the funds’ source. The suspect faced three main charges including conspiracy to defraud contrary to section 317 of the Penal Code, stealing contrary to section 268(1) as read with section 275, and acquisition of proceeds of crime contrary to section 4(a) of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, October 27, Mutuma denied all the charges and was granted a cash bail of KSh200,000.
“The accused is handed a cash bail of Sh200,000 with one contact person; a pre-trial for the case will be on November 3, 2025,” Magistrate Onyina stated.
