A Kenyan P2P trader on Binance has been detained by authorities for allegedly receiving funds linked to a massive cryptocurrency fraud scheme.
Dickson Ndege Nyakango was reportedly arrested at a local bank while attempting to withdraw funds linked to the scam.
According to a local report:
The suspect is accused of using fraudulent online apps to lure investors into fake schemes. Investigators believe he used these platforms to siphon over 58 million shillings by impersonating a licensed investment firm. Detectives are now tracing the movement of the stolen crypto assets.
In a video shared online before a judge, the trader said he was a Binance P2P trader and he was not directly involved in the scam and that his funds were already frozen without indicating if those funds were in his bank or Binance account.
The arrest comes weeks after Binance, the largest P2P crypto platform in Kenya, froze multiple accounts at the request of law enforcement.
In a series of disgruntled tweets, users in Kenya, under the #BinanceUnmasked hashtag, complained that their Binance accounts had been frozen at the request of law enforcement. The law enforcement Government agency name has been identified as the National Police Service, Kenya.
While the cryptocurrency fraud in question was not disclosed, it points to a much bigger problem of similar crypto fraud activities in Kenya that have been reported by both local and international media and law enforcement.
The Africa Organised Crime Index 2025, the final continent-specific edition of ENACT’s flagship report, paints a sobering picture of Africa’s evolving criminal landscape. Country rankings reveal that the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya top the continent’s criminality list, with Kenya ranking among the highest in criminal markets and actors, among them being financial crimes, underscoring persistent challenges in law enforcement and institutional integrity.
Law enforcement and investigative reporting have explicitly cited cryptocurrency as a channel for criminal proceeds, underlining the broader risks identified in the OCI.
According to senior officials from the Kenya Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI Kenya), proceeds of crime are increasingly “laundered and concealed within cryptocurrency”, alongside real estate and complex corporate structures. In their words, illicit funds are no longer hidden under mattresses but moved through digital and financial systems that are harder to trace.
High-value crime in Kenya involving cryptocurrencies, such as Operation Catalyst and Operation Serengeti undertaken by INTERPOL and AFRIPOL, underline how quickly digital asset crime has taken off in the country.
In mid-2025, the European Commission formally listed Kenya as a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering and terrorism financing, a designation influenced in part by weaknesses in prosecuting crypto-related offences and rising suspicious transaction reporting.
Regulatory agencies have noted double-digit growth in suspicious AML filings linked to digital assets.
The latest incident is part of law enforcement efforts to curb the menace of crypto crime by targeting potential crime hot spots, particularly crypto P2P platforms, channels, and endpoints.
Stay tuned to BitKE for the latest crypto regulatory updates across Africa.
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