A raid on a small repair shop in Mradi, Mathare, has exposed how specialised diagnostic equipment recovered from the premises was allegedly used to reprogram and unlock M-Kopa-financed mobile phones, allowing devices still under loan to stay operational long after customers stopped paying their daily instalments.
Investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations linked Benjamin Okello, who runs a phone repair business at Gateway in the area, to the unauthorised alteration of at least 26 M-Kopa Kenya phones. Forensic examination of the tools seized from his shop showed that 365 mobile phones had passed through the equipment. Police recovered 71 handsets together with computers, laptops, external hard drives and specialised flashing boxes identified as Pandora, Chimera and U.F.I units.
M-Kopa later identified 24 of 29 phones examined from the premises as its own, with 23 of them showing signs that security software had been manipulated to defeat the remote restrictions the company places on defaulted devices. A further 18 phones linked to its financing arrangements, valued at Sh303,487, were also flagged. Of these, 17 remained active on loan records yet appeared inactive on the company’s device management system, raising suspicions that their payment controls had been interfered with.
The company finances smartphones through daily instalment plans and retains ownership until the full purchase price is cleared.
