Safaricom Fires 28 Employees over Involvement in Fraud

28 Safaricom employees lost their jobs in the year ended March 2021 for engaging in fraud-related offenses.

The 28 were found guilty following investigations into 36 cases of alleged fraud at the country’s largest telecommunications company.

Safaricom also issued a warning to 19 other employees and referred one of the cases to government agencies for further action, according to the telco’s latest sustainability report released on Wednesday. 

22 out of the 36 cases involved data privacy, eight touched on breach of policy while four were SIM swap incidents. Two cases involved asset misappropriation.

Safaricom revealed it has established fraud management squads as part of its efforts to combat fraud cases.

“The squads have completed three key initiatives: targeting irregular subscriber registrations, focused awareness to customers, and a review of the processes followed by SIM selling outlets,” the report reads in part.

Safaricom listed identity theft and social engineering fraud as the most common forms of fraud targeting customers of its MPesa mobile money platform.

“We highlighted the issues through an above-the-line campaign under the tag Jichanue and Take Control, using radio, TV, and digital channels,” Safaricom said.

“With the aim to reach all customers, we sent out over 63 million SMS broadcasts. Additionally, our digital channels reached 9.5 million people and our radio campaign reached over eight million people.”