A 23-year-old bodaboda rider, who has been masquerading online as Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s spouse, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, is in police custody for fraudulently obtaining money from unsuspecting Kenyans.
At the time of his arrest and arraignment in a Nairobi court, he had conned at least 200 people through social media.
The suspect had opened 14 Facebook parody accounts using the name of the DP’s spouse. The accounts have huge following as the least has 7,000 followers and the highest 27,000 followers.
It is alleged that he used to charge the applicants of the supposed loans Sh700 for registration fees and Sh2500 for application.
According to court documents by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), those interested were promised loans ranging from Sh10,000 to Sh200,000.
He was arrested at his hideout in Soy, Uasin Gishu county, by DCI sleuths who tracked him using cyber forensic analysis of digital data.
Among the exhibits recovered from him by the DCI are four mobile phones, three national identity cards of different persons and four simcards.
The suspect was jointly charged alongside his co-accused Jacklyne Tokesi, before Milimani Law Courts chief magistrate Lucas Onyina with impersonation.
In the second count, they were charged with conspiring to commit an offence and the third count was that of obtaining Sh700 fraudulently from one Esther Waweru pretending they would register her with Mama Care Initiative to secure a loan.
According to the charge sheet, they pretended that they would register Ms Waweru to secure Mama Care Initiative Loan associated with the DP’s spouse.
State prosecutor Anderson Gikunda said that the actual amounts fraudulently obtained from unsuspecting loan applicants will be disclosed at the trial as police are compiling the figures.
They were also charged with fraudulently using electronic data contrary to Section 38 (2) of Computer misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018.
