DPP to Kenyans: Allow others to use your M-Pesa, bank accounts at your own risk

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Ingonga, has warned Kenyans against allowing other people to use their bank accounts, M-Pesa lines and identification documents to move suspicious funds, cautioning that seemingly harmless favours could expose them to criminal investigations.

Mr Ingonga said young people were particularly vulnerable to exploitation by criminal networks that use financial accounts, mobile money services and digital wallets to facilitate money laundering and other financial crimes.

“Do not allow your financial accounts, identification documents or digital platforms to be exploited for criminal purposes,” he said during a community dialogue at AIC Church in Riruta, Nairobi.

The DPP said many Kenyans lend their accounts to friends, relatives or acquaintances without knowing the source of the money being transferred, particularly as mobile money services have become central to everyday transactions.