How scary would it be to hear your phone chime and the notification is an M-Pesa withdrawal message which you did not initiate? Over the last few months, an alarming number of people have taken to social media to complain about funds in their M-Pesa accounts being withdrawn without their consent.
From victims getting calls from customer care representatives who are thieves in disguise and giving out their PIN willingly to the new M-Pesa app being compromised, the conspiracy theories of how these thieves get hold of their victims’ accounts are in surplus online.
Someone just withdrew Ksh. 800 from my mpesa, and no situmii m-pesa app. What saved me is most of the money ilikua KCB M-PESA na huko. pic.twitter.com/9Rky71tciH
— Stonney (@21stonney) October 17, 2022
How can someone access your M-PESA remotely???? Someone just sent themselves money from my M-PESA while Niko na simu. Thank God I changed my pin immediately but they’re still trying. @SafaricomPLC what is happening??? pic.twitter.com/Hjh7kb4p0S
— Welp! (@Livingitupbro) September 4, 2022
However, the real problem is people are losing thousands in hard-earned funds and Safaricom has yet to comment on the issue. While Safaricom does give safety tips like never to give your PIN to any person (even a Safaricom representative), given its a real safety issue now affecting dozens, the telco should at least issue a statement on what is being done to address the loopholes, the thieves have discovered if any.
How to Take Action and be Safe
The most common loophole is your information getting out willingly, Whether it’s the official 0722000000 you should never give out any of your secret information like your PIN. You should also never use an easy-to-guess PIN, probably avoid using your date of birth, etc.
Bottomline the safety of your money lies on Safaricom and the telco should be held accountable when funds in the mobile money wallets get stolen without your consent.
