Detectives are investigating the disappearance of two men along the Narok-Mai Mahiu highway.
The incident has caused panic in Bomet and Narok counties where the men come from.
Also in panic, according to police, is the cyber-criminal underworld.
The men have been missing since December 5.
They were traveling in the company of a woman to Bomet from Nairobi when they went missing in the Mutarakwa area along the Mai Mahiu-Narok highway.
A Toyota Prado they were traveling in was shot in the tyres and the occupants abducted by masked individuals into a waiting vehicle, police said.
Police investigations show that the Prado, whose registration number was captured, was in October, 2022, intercepted while ferrying sandalwood worth Sh2 million in Maili Saba area along Nakuru–Nyahururu highway.
Chepalungu subcounty police boss Panton Analo said his office is working closely with the relatives of the missing persons to help trace them.
“We are still pursuing possible leads into the incident,” he said.
Their close friends and relatives suggested that they may have been abducted by their own associates over deals gone sour.
Seperate accounts suggeted that there was a high likelihood that the two, who had been linked to scamming claims, might have obtained huge amounts of money from their scams and refused to share the loot with their accomplices.
“There is a likelihood they may have opted to scheme for their own disappearance to lead their associates to believe that they were targeted by law enforcement agencies,” an official aware of the probe said.
In February 2024, one of the missing men and his associates was arrested in relation to a robbery with violence case.
The case is ongoing at the Kericho Law Courts.
Others believe that their disappearance may have been orchestrated by vengeful victims who lost millions of shillings from their cybercrime activities.
The men, aged 34 and 28 respectively, are alleged to be members of an intricate cyber scamming syndicate, which includes SIM swapping, credit card fraud and even armed robbery.
Police said criminals in the sector exploit weaknesses in mobile networks to conduct SIM swap, enabling them to access victims' online financial platforms and withdraw funds using money.
According to police, the missing men have recruited hundreds of youths in Bomet county who have specialised in social engineering (phishing).
Cyber-related scams continue to thrive in the country as cyber criminals continue to steal millions of shillings every day by siphoning money from bank and mobile money accounts of hardworking Kenyans.
Police have upped efforts to address the menace amid innovative new tricks by cyber criminals to steal.
The criminals are becoming more emboldened in carrying out more intricate scams after discovering more loopholes presented by the digital era.
Cybercrime experts are urging members of the public to be vigilant and take safety precautions to avoid losing their hard-earned cash to scammers.
The cybersecurity measures include activating two-factor authentication protocols and use of strong passwords which cannot be easily cracked by criminals.
They also urge the public to avoid falling prey to scammers who use social engineering techniques to obtain credit card details, which are used by the scammers to access bank accounts.
Further, members of the public are advised to keep their credit cards safely and avoid sharing their credit card details such as card number, expiry date and CVV since those are the details used by cyber criminals to access bank accounts.
Police also advise Kenyans to ensure use of legitimate websites or apply for prepaid cards from banks, which they can load whenever they need to make an online payment and immediately report loss of credit cards to concerned institutions and have their accounts blocked to keep their money safe.
“They should also avoid clicking on random links that are sent by unknown individuals claiming to be from financial institutions or while on social media,” police said.
