A Mombasa court sentenced a boda boda rider to seven years in prison for retaining Kes.200,000 mistakenly sent to his Mpesa account.
Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo handed down the sentence after 27-year-old Samuel Mwithiga Wanjiku pleaded guilty to the charges.
Detectives charged Wanjiku with intentionally withholding payment delivered erroneously, contrary to Section 35 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act 2018, following his arrest in Nyandarua. Authorities later transported him to Mombasa for processing, and he appeared before the court on Wednesday.
The charges stated that on June 14, 2024, in an unknown area within Kenya, an electronic payment of Sh200,000 was erroneously sent to his Mpesa account, which should have been delivered to Phina Habare Buya. The money had been sent by the complainant from Texas, United States.
In his mitigation, Wanjiku explained that after receiving the amount, he informed his family that he had won a lottery. He used the money to buy a motorcycle, open a hair salon for his wife, and gift his mother Kes.50,000.
“After I received the money, I blocked the sender and bought myself a boda boda since I had been employed by someone else as a rider. When my family inquired about the source of the money, I told them I had won a lottery,” he informed the court.
He further confessed that he blocked the sender due to frequent calls demanding a refund of the money.
According to the Computer and Cyber Crimes Act, 2018, failing to reverse an Mpesa transaction done by mistake attracts a fine of Kes.200,000, a jail term of more than a year, or both.
The convict was granted 14 days to appeal his sentence.
