Equity Bank Suffers $2.1 Million Debit Card Fraud

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Kenya's largest financial institution, Equity Bank, was targeted in a major debit card fraud scheme. Perpetrators stole an estimated $2.1 million over a seven-day period. The stolen funds were then distributed across more than 500 bank accounts and mobile money wallets, sparking concerns about the security of digital transactions in Kenya.

Equity Bank identified the fraudulent activity and promptly froze all accounts that received the stolen money. However, the bank declined to publicly comment on the incident.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is leading the investigation. They confirmed the arrest of 19 suspects in connection with the fraud. Details about the specific scam tactic haven't been released, but sources suggest it involved a "card-not-present" scheme. This type of fraud typically involves using stolen card details for online transactions or diverting them to fraudulent websites.

Equity Bank estimates that KES 179.6 million (around $1.3 million) was fraudulently transferred into internal accounts. An additional KES 102 million ($774,375) was sent to Safaricom's mobile money platform (M-Pesa) and other banks. The bank is collaborating with these institutions to track the movement of the stolen funds and recover them.

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