The detective said they have interrogated staff at the said company but established that none of its workers participated in the fraudulent registration of Sim Cards that were used in the crime.
Investigations into the hacking of two telecom giants and two
banks have established that 1,500 Sim Cards on which money was transferred were
registered in the names of a local company.
A senior police detective at Criminal Investigations Directorate –CID in
Kibuli, has intimated to Uganda Radio Network –URN that hackers who illegally
accessed Pegasus an aggregator of Airtel, MTN, Stanbic Bank and Bank of Africa
transferred the money allegedly more than 10 billion shillings to SIM Cards
fraudulently registered in the name of a local company.
The detective said they have interrogated staff at the said company but
established that none of its workers participated in the fraudulent
registration of Sim Cards that were used in the crime.
However, the cyber team says it was the negligence of the company that gave
chance criminals to fraudulently register Sim Cards in their name. The company
which CID has preferred to keep a secret allegedly left its details at a
stationery shop.
“All our investigations have proven that this company is innocent into this
crime. Hackers accessed vital registration details at a stationery shop. Many
people are fond of living copies of their documents at stationery shops which
is very risky. In this era of technology crime, you must be careful with where
you leave your documents,” a senior police detective said.
Early this month, Pegasus technologies reported a case at Jinja Road indicating
that there was an unauthorized access to its system. MTN, Airtel and Stanbic
Bank later issued a joint statement acknowledging that their aggregator’s
systems had been illegally accessed.
Charles Twine, the Spokesperson of the CID declined to comment on the new
development.
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CID has released the five suspects who had been arrested in connection to the
crime. Twine said they could not keep the suspects in cells since
investigations are yet to be concluded by the independent digital
investigators.
Mr Joseph Kato graduated with a Master's Degree of Art in Journalism & Communication on February 02, 2024 at Makerere University. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Journalism and Media Studies which he attained in 2023 at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway.
Mr Kato holds a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from Kampala International University. The Master's Degree studies and a decade of journalism practice have enabled Mr Kato to be one of the reliable researchers in areas of conflict, r
