A Facebook impostor in Kenya who allegedly passed himself around as the inspector general of police was yesterday arraigned in court to face charges of impersonation.
Jackson Siro, 20, is claimed to have opened a Facebook page, using the inspector general’s name, with the purpose of extorting money from them. He also faced charges of impersonating the inspector general and posting offensive messages on the Facebook account.
The accused, who is a first-year student at the Kenya Technical Teachers College in Nairobi, while in court yesterday collapsed when it was announced that he would be released on a cash bail of KSh500,000 (US$5,750). Seemingly regretful of his actions, he cried out for the inspector general to forgive him.
Impersonation frauds have been growing in the light of the spread of social media. Last year, a famous television anchor had her identity stolen on the Facebook platform and on M-Pesa where the perpetrator conned thousands of shillings from unsuspecting citizens.
Kirigo Ng’arua of Citizen Television had her identity stolen by David Kitheka Mutua who claimed to be an IT professional who could not get a job in the country.
The government has also put those who commit crime on social media on notice. This is due to the high tension being witnessed because of the oncoming general election in the country. The government is however yet to make any arrests of prosecutions with regard to hate speech on social media.
