Two Kenyans Charged with Hacking, Stealing Sh300 Million from Chase, Family Banks

Two suspects have been arraigned in court on Thursday in connection with stealing of more than Sh300 million from two local banks.

The two, Martin Machere Karuri and Reuben Tum are accused of stealing the cash from Chase and Family Banks.

Appearing before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi, the two have been charged with electronic banking fraud, handling stolen properties and conspiracy to steal among other counts.

Machere is accused of conspiring with others not before the court to steal millions of shillings from Family Bank between January 1st, 2019 and January 20th, 2019.

He is accused of altering data in the bank’s core banking system by interfering with 22 prepaid card balances of customers leading to loss of Sh294.8 million.

He is also accused of dishonestly withdrawing from his bank account, Sh807,684, knowing that it was stolen cash.

On the other hand, Tum is accused of fraudulently altering data in a Chase Bank core banking system by interfering with 43 clients’ accounts, causing loss of Sh12.5 million between June 12th, 2018 and July 8th, 2018.

On the second count, he is said to have withdrawn Sh105,000 through ATM and M-Pesa on July 8th, 2018, knowing it to be stolen.

The two have denied the charges and have been released on Sh1 million cash bail or a bond of a similar amount (Machere) while Tum has been freed on Sh500,000 bond or a cash bail of Sh300,000.

The matter will be heard on March 5th, 2019.

Their arraignment comes a day after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) published names and photos of 130 suspects wanted by authorities in connection with stealing of billions of shillings from banks and financial institutions through hacking.