City barber and gambler in trouble after betting Sh20,000 stray M-pesa cash

A city barber who gambled Sh20,000 erroneously sent to his M-pesa account and lost it all is facing charges of intentionally withholding payment delivered erroneously contrary to section 35 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2018.

Evans Mose aged 35 years is accused of refusing to refund the stray transaction sent his account after the owner, Caroline Kivuva made a deposit to an unintended mobile phone number on June 21, 2025.

Prosecution now says Mose unlawfully retained the money which ought to have been delivered to another person within the Kingstone area of Lungalunga slums, in Makadara Sub County, Nairobi.

Mose placed numerous bets on popular online gambling platform Aviator and lost everything.

Kivuva who operates an M-pesa agent shop alongside a hardware store had Mose’s telephone number and particulars including his national identity card number because he is a regular customer but mistakenly deposited another customer’s money in his account.

She tried to reverse the transaction after discovering she had deposited the cash to a wrong number, but the reversal could not succeed because Mose allegedly withdrew the money immediately it landed.

The complainant contacted the accused person and he promised to return money the same day which he did not.

Kivuva and Mose later went to Lungalunga police station where police conducted investigations and established Mose had spent the money gambling and the suspect was arrested.

Mose denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Paul Rotich of Makadara law courts.

He was released on a cash bail of Sh15, 000. The case will be mentioned on July 9, 2025 for a pretrial and setting of hearing dates.