Nairobi Man in Court for Using Edited MPesa Messages to Evade Paying Rent for 37 Months

A 31-year-old Nairobi man has been arraigned in court for using edited MPesa messages to avoid paying rent for 37 months.

Emanuel Ian Osome, a tenant at Kristy Homes in Lang’ata, appeared at Milimani law courts where he was charged with the intent to defraud his landlady with false MPesa transactions.

The accused is said to have committed the offenses on diverse dates between November 1st, 2018, and November 8th, 2021.

Emanuel pleaded not guilty to five counts of fraudulent misuse of electronic data contrary to the law and computer forgery. Senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi released him on a cash bail of Sh200,000.

A police report shows that the landlady wrote to Nairobi DCIO requesting investigations and action on the alleged fraud.

The complainant claimed that Emanuel had been sending false MPesa messages to the caretaker, who in turn issued him with rent payment receipts oblivious that the transactions were fake.

Investigations revealed that the accused did not make any payments to Absa Bank that corresponded to the said MPesa transactions to the landlady’s account.

The investigating officer also obtained a report from the Communication Authority of Kenya confirming that the accused sent the said monthly false MPesa transaction messages to the caretaker for 37 months.

The case will be mentioned next month.