Government steps up fight on fraud in money transfer

Principal Secretary for Internal Security and National Administration Dr Raymond Omollo on August 22, 2026. [Courtesy]

The Government has intensified efforts to combat cyber-enabled fraud after a new analysis revealed that mobile money featured in half of the computer fraud cases reported in Kenya between February and July this year.

The National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4) said mobile money was used either as a payment method or destination in 51 of 102 reported computer fraud cases reviewed during the six-month period.

The findings were presented during the 36th NC4 meeting chaired by Principal Secretary for the State Department for Internal Security and National Administration Dr Raymond Omollo.

“Mobile money was used as the payment method or destination in 51 of 102 reported computer fraud cases,” the NC4 analysis found.

Mobile money fraud emerged as the largest single fraud scheme, accounting for 19 cases, representing 18.6 per cent of the cases reviewed.

Investment and forex schemes followed with 16 cases, or 15.7 per cent, while cryptocurrency schemes accounted for 12 cases, equivalent to 11.8 per cent.

The analysis also found that 23 cases, or 22.5 per cent,  contained explicit telecommunications or SIM-related indicators, raising concerns over the abuse of mobile communications infrastructure by fraudsters.

The problem intensified from May, with 70 cases, representing 68.6 per cent of the six-month total, reported between May and July. July recorded the highest monthly volume at 27 cases.

The Government has consequently identified several measures to curb the growing threat, including closer monitoring of high-risk mobile money transactions and faster preservation of digital evidence.

Authorities also want telecommunications companies to establish faster escalation channels to facilitate investigations and prevent suspects from exploiting delays in reporting and evidence gathering.

Other priorities include stronger intelligence on investment, forex and cryptocurrency schemes, quicker action against fake websites and impersonation accounts, and more consistent classification of fraud data.

The Government warned fraudsters that complaints will be investigated and offenders prosecuted according to the law.

“Fraud complaints will be investigated and offenders prosecuted in accordance with the law,” the Government warned.

The public has also been urged to exercise greater vigilance when using digital financial services or responding to online investment, cryptocurrency, shopping and recruitment offers.

Authorities cautioned Kenyans against disclosing personal identification numbers, passwords, one-time passwords or other authentication credentials. 

They urged users to activate multifactorial authentication where available and promptly report suspicious phone numbers, accounts, websites and transactions.

The mobile money fraud findings come against a wider cyber threat landscape. The Kenya Computer Incident Response Team–Coordination Centre (KE-CIRT/CC) reported 2.3 billion cyber events, although this represented a 30 per cent decline from the previous quarter.

Ransomware, social engineering, malware, distributed denial-of-service attacks and AI-assisted attacks remained among the major threats.

KE-CIRT/CC attributed the decline to continued collaboration and institutional action on its advisories.

The Government has also raised concern over the increasing sophistication of online threats, including the use of fake accounts, bots and AI-generated content.

Dr Omollo reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strengthening Kenya’s cybersecurity through better institutional coordination, incident response, investigation and prosecution, legal and regulatory reforms, protection of critical infrastructure and increased public awareness.

“These efforts will support implementation of the Kenya AI Strategy 2025. The measures are intended to help create a safe and trusted digital environment for all Kenyans.”