Nairobi, Kenya: Technology savvy fraudsters have stolen an estimated Sh21 million from Kenya’s revolutionary mobile phone-based money transfer system, M-pesa. Michael Joseph, the chief executive of Safaricom — the telecoms operator that owns M-pesa — says the operation has reported suspected or actual fraud in 0.006 per cent total transactions since its inception three years ago.

“Suspected or actual fraud stands at less than 0.006 per cent of all recorded transactions with a downward trend,” says Mr Joseph. He declined to disclose the exact figures, saying Safaricom had shared the data with regulatory authorities who have the mandate to receive such reports. M-pesa has handled an estimated Sh350 billion since it was launched three years ago.

Anti-fraud experts have feared that M-pesa’s unparalleled success in the money transfer business would catch the attention of cyber criminals and expose the system to huge losses, but the revelation that the money transfer platform has lost less than one per cent of the total cash moved should help clear any concerns over its safety.

Industry sources says M-pesa’s extensive network of 16,000 agents and nine million customers presents a massive security challenge to its managers and that the low level loss is an indication of how far the company has invested in securing the system from cyber criminals.

M-pesa says the number of attempted fraudulent transactions has been rising since last year, but most have been unsuccessful.“A month does not pass without a new form of fraud. These people are very innovative,” says one agent who declined to be named.

 

 

 

.