A Nigerian national was on Thursday arraigned for attempting to defraud a Nairobi-based nut processing company of Ksh 35.9 million.
Appearing at the Milimani law courts in Nairobi, the accused; Endurance Obayan, was charged with the offenses of Computer forgery contrary to section 25(1) of the computer misuse and attempted stealing contrary to section 268(1) as read with section 391 of the penal code.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the suspect was nabbed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) while trying to flee the country after the incident on Wednesday evening.
“He was stopped on his tracks as he desperately attempted to board a Nigeria bound flight, to escape from our agents who were hot on his trail,” said the DCI in a statement.
The DCI explained that they had been contacted to arrest the cybercrime con after he accessed Equatorial Nuts Processing Limited systems and attempted to swindle their Australian client,” DCI stated.
“He sent a fake invoice to their client in Australia, demanding payment of Ksh.35.9 million. The email further instructed the client to channel the money to an account in China. This alarmed the client who immediately contacted Equatorial Nuts, in a bid to establish whether they had changed their bank details,” DCI noted.
Thereafter, the company’s security manager is said to have immediately alerted Cybercrime detectives, who backed up by their Serious Crimes counterparts, launched a manhunt for Obayan.
On Thursday evening, the accused sensed danger and hurriedly left his Ruaka residence only to be cornered by immigration officials at the airport.
He was arrested and taken to the DCI headquarters for questioning
