A phone goes silent,and suddenly, the money trail begins .Four Chinese nationals have been arrested in Nairobi over an alleged sophisticated fraud and money-laundering scheme involving SIM swapping, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The investigation began after a businesswoman discovered that her two Safaricom lines had suddenly stopped working, cutting off her access to calls and M-Pesa services.
She reported the incident to police, prompting detectives from the DCI Parklands office to launch investigations into the suspected SIM takeover.
According to the DCI, investigators established that the affected mobile numbers had allegedly been used to receive funds from a gaming and betting platform. The money was then reportedly moved through several mobile numbers and bank accounts linked to the suspects.
The investigation led to the arrest of Xiaoling Gu, Guodong Fu, Wenji Gao and Gu Xiaopeng.
A search of premises linked to the suspects reportedly resulted in the recovery of 15 Safaricom SIM cards and nine Airtel SIM cards registered under different names. Detectives also recovered six SIM cards belonging to foreign nationals, six mobile phones, laptops and three ATM cards registered to different account holders.
Police also recovered approximately KSh1.1 million in cash, as investigations into the alleged financial network continued.
The four suspects have since been arraigned before the Kibra Chief Magistrate’s Court, with a ruling on their bond application scheduled for September 4, 2026.
The DCI says investigations are ongoing as detectives continue tracing the alleged flow of funds and establishing whether other individuals were involved in the scheme.
