Cooperative Bank customer withdrew Sh14 million through his phone for gambling

All a gambler needed in order to withdraw Sh14 million from the bank was an account and mobile phone.

It all came out that the Co-operative Bank of Kenya lost Sh115 million to gamblers.

There are fears that more banks might be losing large sums of money in this way after revelations that a customer sued the Co-op Bank for freezing his account because it was overdrawn.

In Antony Kimani's account he had Sh18 million, he then withdrew Sh14 million. The bank stated that the money didn’t belong to him, so the bank froze the account which caused Mr Kimani to sue.

The Sh115 million that the bank lost is thought to have been siphoned off by seven customers during 2011. Other customers were not named in the suit brought before the High Court judge Fred Ochieng.

Justice Ochieng heard in count that all Mr. Kimani needed to use was a mobile phone to siphon the money and make use of it for gambling online.

He had a moble banking app which he made use of while connected to the mobile banking facility, therefore he was able to operate it remotely from his phone.