We can all relate to scenarios when someone sends money to the wrong number and it just so happens to be yours. Well, whenever the sender asks for that money back, be sure to return it fast or you might end up in trouble as Cyrus Nzoka Maithya did. After failing to return about KES 16,463 sent to him erroneously via M-PESA, he was taken to court and charged with two counts of stealing.

This has now ended up with him being sentenced to 3 months in jail for stealing the money sent from an account registered under Harriet Karimi.

The individual pleaded guilty before Nairobi Senior Principal magistrate Marta Nazushi after confessing that he had already used the money and had no means to pay it back. As reported by K24, this was even after being given a chance by the magistrate to return the money in full to the owner.

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Cyrus Nzioka Maithya on November 3, 2020, in Nairobi otherwise in the course of stealing dishonesty, received Sh16463 in your Mpesa account knowing or having reasons to believe it was stolen” stated the second count of the charge sheet stated,”

The defendant did express his remorse before sentencing asking the court to forgive him as he is a parent of two children who depend on him. Unfortunately for him, the only two options left for him were to either pay a KES 20,000 fine or serve a 3-month jail term.

Of course, there are many bad actors out there who choose to take advantage of naive Kenyans by sending spam M-PESA messages. But it is important for one to check and be sure whether any amount of money has really been sent to their account by error. If so, be sure to be honest enough and send it back in order to be on the right side of the law.