Regular readers will recall that Bomet County is the epicenter of sim-swapping mobile money fraud in Kenya. A criminal cottage industry has evolved around Bomet, originating within a trading center that serves Mulot, a town of 20,000 people located on the main highway to Nairobi, 200km to the East. Successive generations have been shown how to use fake ID documents to hijack control of a victim’s phone account before draining the mobile money balance and borrowing as much as possible in the victim’s name. The methods they use do not require sophisticated technology; police have captured lists of targets that were written by hand in exercise books. The police is aware of the situation in Bomet and has steadily increased the tempo of operations to identify and raid suspects, leading to a rising number of arrests of young men and women that locals refer to as ‘swappers’. However, now that the cancer has set in, criminal gangs appear able to keep recruiting replacement swappers as quickly as the police can catch them. The majority of arrested swappers never completed their education, having dropped out of primary or secondary schooling.
Tough enforcement of the law must be part of the solution when criminal fraternities have become rooted in a part of society, but it may not be enough. Two more swappers were arrested at the beginning of this month and detained in Mulot Police Station; multiple identity cards and SIM cards for Airtel’s network were found in their possession. However, the extent of Bomet SIM swap crime is putting a strain on the legal system, telcos, and phone users. The prosecution of five other alleged Mulot swappers collapsed a week earlier because Airtel and Safaricom did not supply evidence by a court-imposed deadline. Local police chief Robinson Ndiwa recently told Nation that more than 25 suspected SIM swappers have been released in the last six months because victims were unwilling to support prosecutions. And there is only so much that can be done if the victims of SIM swap crime do not understand how to protect themselves. A woman who demanded Safaricom compensate her for the KSH21,000 (USD160) stolen from her by SIM swappers in 2016 recently lost her court battle after a Safaricom fraud investigator testified the victim must have divulged her PIN number to a crook. The victim’s PIN and a copy of her identity card were then used to impersonate her and persuade a Safaricom agent to transfer control of her account.
Now the government has promised to try an additional tactic to stem the tide of SIM swap crime. Nation reports that 52 acres have been allocated by the Bomet County Government for the construction of an information and communication technology hub that will provide school drop-outs with an alternative career path to joining the local SIM swap gangs.
The government has announced plans to establish an information and communication technology (ICT) hub in Mulot as part of efforts to shed the region’s reputation as East Africa’s cybercrime headquarters.
The devolved administration has secured land for the project to build Kenya’s first rural-based hub of its kind. The multibillion-shilling initiative will be implemented by the Kenyan government in collaboration with global ICT companies. This follows President William Ruto’s directive to the county government to secure land for the ICT hub.
Stellah Rotich, Chief ICT Officer for Bomet County (pictured), emphasized the importance of the project to Nation.
Setting up a software development factory will transform Mulot from a cybercrime hub to a centre of innovation and coding training for the youth. It will be a game-changer in the country.
Rotich will tender for the construction of an interim facility on an initial 4.5-acre plot during the 2024/25 financial year, which begins in July. The hope is that the commitment of public money will help to attract multinational tech firms to the project.
Other countries should pay attention to the initiative in Bomet County. SIM swap crime appeals to young people who want to get rich quick without ever facing their victims. There have been a slew of SIM swap convictions for teenagers and twenty-somethings across many countries. The US Cyber Safety Review Board highlighted the extent to which crimes like SIM swaps appeal to young people, prompting the Board to call for…
…the advancement of “whole-of-society” programs and mechanisms to prevent juvenile cybercrime. Congress should explore funding juvenile cybercrime prevention programs, fostering interruption and redirection programs, and reducing criminal incentives by exploring ways to ensure continuity between federal and state law enforcement authorities.
The Bomet County initiative is a different example of how societies can take a holistic approach to tackling networked crime. In some respects it benefits from better experimental conditions than will be found elsewhere. The report issued by the US Cyber Safety Review Board was a response to the crimes committed by LAPSUS$, a SIM swapping gang that used online forums and internet comms platforms to recruit members across different continents. The peculiar geographic concentration of SIM swap crime in Bomet appears to be because their gangs are recruiting and training people face-to-face. Creating new pathways into legitimate IT careers can be much more effectively targeted amongst the SIM swappers of Bomet than would be possible with youths whose primary interface with the criminal community occurs over the internet. But if the Bomet ICT Hub is successful at reducing crime, other countries should seek ways to give young people more opportunities to legally pursue their interest in technology.
