While most Kenyans were still reeling from the chaos of COVID-19 back in 2020, a quiet storm was brewing in Bomet County.
Amidst lockdowns, curfews, and economic uncertainty, one young university student was quietly pulling off what would become one of the most elaborate mobile money frauds in Kenyan history.
His name? Gideon Kipkurui Rono. And by the time people found out what he was up to, the Fuliza system had already been bled dry—to the tune of Ksh 449 million.
From Campus to Criminal Mastermind
Gideon, a student at Egerton University, had just landed what he called his “soft life” moment in July 2020.
Fresh off a successful scheme, he strolled into Nakuru Equipment Supplies with a fat wad of Ksh 143,000 in hand and bought his first motorbike—a Bajaj Boxer.
But unlike others who bought bikes for business, Giddy just wanted to flex around the estate.
Barely two months later, on September 2nd, he returned to the same shop and paid Ksh 90,000 cash for a second bike.
The seller was impressed—but what he didn’t know was that Giddy’s booming “business” was actually a high-level identity theft operation that had just kicked off.
How the Fuliza Scam Was Born
Gideon had observed the infamous Mulot Gang but wasn’t into the whole hiding-from-the-cops lifestyle.
He wanted something more refined. So he started collecting lost ID cards from all over Bomet town.
With those IDs and a Safaricom MobiGo machine, he registered new SIM cards—each linked to the Fuliza overdraft service.
Each ID card was good for up to five SIM registrations. With just 50 IDs, he had 250 SIMs up and running from his bedsitter.
He’d borrow Ksh 300 per line, transfer the cash to his personal number, and then dispose of the SIMs. Rinse and repeat—for weeks.
Scaling Up the Operation With Friends and Tech Experts
By the time September rolled around, Giddy had made enough to go big.
But to scale the scam, he needed more ID cards—and more hands.
That’s when he brought in his university buddy, Isaac Kipkemoi, a student at St. Paul’s University.
Due to lockdown restrictions, Isaac couldn’t join immediately but introduced Giddy to his contact, Nelson Kamau.
Nelson was a SIM swap guru who connected Giddy to Peter Gitahi, an IT pro based in Trans Nzoia. Peter had access to the National Registration Bureau and could fabricate realistic ID cards.
With 13 MobiGo machines and thousands of fake IDs, Peter provided the gang with SIM cards prepped for Fuliza use—cutting Giddy’s operational costs by half.
New Headquarters, Bigger Ambitions
Once the operation was running smoothly, Giddy and Nelson shifted base to Nakuru, where they rented an apartment in Kiamunyi Estate.
This became the gang’s command center. With more friends roped in, they began registering thousands of SIMs and cashing in on Fuliza loans like clockwork.
By the end of 2020, the scheme had scaled beyond what even they imagined.
It was no longer just Fuliza—they now needed bank accounts.
Flooding the Banks With Suspicious Transactions
On February 5th, 2021, Giddy opened an account at Family Bank’s Nakuru branch with just Ksh 1,000.
It stayed dormant for three weeks—then exploded with daily deposits of between Ksh 22,000 to 100,000 from multiple MPESA numbers. That triggered a red flag.
To stay ahead, Nelson and another associate named Edwin opened new accounts on March 23rd, specifically to receive the illicit deposits and withdraw funds without detection.
Soon after, Isaac joined the financial setup and opened his own Family Bank account.
By late May, Isaac’s account was swamped—244 deposits in a single day, totaling tens of thousands.
The money was funneled out in small bits of Ksh 200,000 to various numbers for easy withdrawal.
Living Large: From Bedsitters to Big Cars
On July 7th, 2021, Giddy leveled up again. He opened a Co-op Bank account with Ksh 7,500.
Within three weeks, he deposited Ksh 1.4 million across 10 phone numbers.
That money went straight into a new Subaru Forester (KDD), which he proudly drove to Mombasa on August 5th with Isaac—who had just received a whopping Ksh 1.36 million to purchase his Toyota Mark X.
Next was Nelson. On January 24th, 2022, he bought his own Subaru KDG 972S after getting Ksh 1.87 million. Two days later, Jones joined the elite club with his Subaru from AutoZone Motors.
And they didn’t stop there.
Edwin Kipkorir rolled into Al Siddique Motors on February 24th and walked out with his Subaru Forester KDG 061R.
Giddy himself wrapped it all up by buying a Probox, sealing their status as full-blown millionaires—all off fake loans and stolen IDs.
When Fuliza Started Asking Questions
Back at Safaricom, Fuliza’s internal team started scratching their heads.
Something wasn’t adding up. Why were so many SIM cards taking loans and then going dark before a single call was even made?
Suspicions led to a police report—but by then, the gang had already siphoned hundreds of millions.
And according to sources, they weren’t done yet. There was still a Part 2 in the making…