Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested two suspects on suspicion of impersonating high-ranking government officials to defraud the public.
According to the DCI, varsity student Tony Blair Okello and his accomplice Tyson Odhiambo Otieno were arrested at Tuuti and Namachanja areas of Bungoma county, respectively, for running social media accounts linked to government officials and defrauding unsuspecting victims.
This, detectives say, contravenes Section 28 of the Computer Misuse Act, which highlights the offense of cyber squatting and Section 393 of the penal code, which details the conspiracy to commit a felony.
Cyber squatting refers to illegally taking another person’s name, trademark or domain names to deceive others.
Preliminary investigations established that Odhiambo was the mastermind behind opening numerous accounts, which he sold to other persons after training them on how to run the scamming venture.
In the case presented in court, Odhiambo’s student, Tony Blair Okello, was accused of impersonating Interior Principal Secretary Dr. Raymond Omollo.
The duo was released on a Ksh.35,000 cash bail with the case coming up for mention on Monday. April 28.
