A police recruit has been arrested and is in custody over a fake job scam that saw a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) hopeful lose hundreds of thousands of shillings.
In a statement released on Sunday, February 8, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) announced the arrest of Kipkoech Isaac, who is accused of running a fraudulent KDF recruitment scheme.
According to detectives, Kipkoech, who had already joined the police service and was undergoing training at the National Police College Embakasi A, deceived a member of the public by claiming he could help him secure a slot in the Kenya Defence Forces.
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The suspect allegedly convinced the victim that he could facilitate the issuance of an official KDF employment letter in exchange for a large sum of money. Believing the claims, the victim paid Ksh687,000 before Kipkoech disappeared.
“Detectives from Kayole Police Station have arrested a Police Recruit Constable accused of running a slick con that fleeced a member of the public of Sh687,000, all under the guise of securing an employment letter from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF),” the DCI said in its statement.
The detectives revealed that on November 12, 2025, Kipkoech promised the victim a KDF recruitment letter in exchange for Ksh700,000, spinning what they described as a “tantalising tale” to lure the unsuspecting job seeker.
After the victim formally reported the matter, detectives launched investigations and tracked the suspect to the police college in Embakasi.
Kipkoech was arrested and booked at the Kayole Police Station, where he is currently being held pending arraignment.
“Following this, detectives launched a manhunt for the suspect, trailing him to the National Police College, Embakasi A campus, and subsequently arresting him. Now cooling his heels in custody, Kipkoech is undergoing processing as he awaits arraignment,” the DCI added.
The arrest comes months after another major fake recruitment scam was uncovered, in which detectives arrested a suspect accused of defrauding job seekers of Ksh2.5 million through a bogus police recruitment scheme.
In that case, a man identified as Benedict Odeng’ero Wekesa was taken into custody after at least three victims reported being conned with promises of guaranteed entry into the police service.
Investigators said Wekesa used forged recruitment letters to convince victims to part with large sums of money.
By the time the victims realised they had been duped, they had collectively lost Ksh2.5 million.
Detectives later tracked Wekesa to a hotel in Kilimani, Nairobi, where he was arrested and 20 additional fake recruitment letters recovered, exposing what police believe to be a wider fraud network.