A man was charged before Makadara Law courts for deliberately withholding money erroneously sent to his mpesa account number.
On December 25, Mr Tony Munyoki Kimanzi had receive Sh140,000 in his mpesa account number which was erroneously sent to him by one Abdikadir Muhumed from the latter’s M-banking Equity Bank Account. Mr Abdikadir Muhumed tried a number of times to reach out to Mr Tony Munyoki (for reversal) but the recipient had other plans with the money: he switched off his phone. By doing so, Mr Tony Munyoki contravened section 35 of the computer misuse and cybercrime Act of 2018.
On realizing that his hopes of getting back his money were dimmed, Mr Abdikadir reported the matter at the Shaurimoyo police station, and the matter was taken over by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which would later trace and arrest Mr. Kimanzi in Kitengela, Kajiando County, where he was working in a hardware store.
Mr. Kimanzi denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Mary Njagi of Makadara Law Courts. The accused was released on a bond of Sh100, 000 without an option of a cash bail. The case will be mentioned on March 28 before hearing starts on June 22nd this year.
Cases of sending money to a wrong mpesa account number are common in Kenya. This is even exacerbated because a person can miss a lifetime fortune by just (mis)typing one digit. However, when using mpesa services, safaricom systems do notify the sender of the money of the recipient shortly before the sender would allow the mpesa account system to finally release the money to the intended recipient. The name of the recipient will always pop up on the mobile phone screen before the money finally goes to the keyed in numbers. That way, the one sending the money using his or her mpesa account number is given time to see whether the money is going to the intended recipient or not.
Such are the things that someone should be keen to note before money is finally released to the next person.
