Safaricom dismisses 118 staff for fraud, four times the 2021 level

Safaricom dismissed 118 staff members for scams in the year to March, even as scams events fell 82%, indicating a decreasing expert danger in the middle of a heightened crackdown at Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator.

The figure, revealed in the business’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report launched on Tuesday at its Nairobi head office, is more than 4 times the 28 terminations tape-recorded in the year to March 2021It corresponds to about 2% of the 5,648 individuals the report notes as staff members.

Earlier disclosures put the tally at 95 in the year to March 2024 and 113 in the yearto March 2025so the climb has actually been consistent instead of a one-off spike.

Expert conduct brings uncommon weight at Safaricom as personnel sit near to client information, SIM registration and the representative network that moves cash throughout M-PESA, Kenya’s dominant mobile-money platform. The report deals with theft, falsifying business records, and unauthorised access to client call records as gross misbehavior that can lead to termination.

“Our consumers delegate us with their individual info, interactions and monetary deals and anticipate our services to be safe and secure, dependable and accountable,” Safaricom stated in the report.

The report notes 118 scams cases examined and 118 terminations, in addition to 3 disciplinary cautions, up from none the previous year. Recommendations to police doubled from 7 to 14. Scams was the most typical issue raised through Safaricom’s confidential principles hotline.

The increase comes as the business states its anti-fraud push is working. It cut scams events by 82%, except a 90% target, and recuperated 46% of reported scams losses. Tracking and analytics likewise recuperated KES 953 million ($7.4 million) connected to inflated representative commissions.

Safaricom stated it moved from an investigation-led design to real-time detection covering internal, supplier and mobile-money scams. The report does not break down terminations by function, worth internal losses, or state the number of cases caused charges.

According to the report, scams awareness training reached 5,643 individuals throughout personnel, call centres, M-PESA, suppliers and brand name ambassadors, and 98% of workers finished the yearly principles program.

Group Chief Risk Officer Nicholas Mulila stated the business is dedicated to “embedding responsibility throughout our operations.” Safaricom called in-person social engineering as the biggest source of client scams.

news Crackdown on expert dangers

The personnel terminations over scams mirror what is occurring in the banking market, where sharper detection has actually likewise pressed terminations greater. KCB Group, Kenya’s biggest bank by possessions, dismissed 60 personnel for scams in 2025up from 34 in 2024, even as reported scams events was up to 201 from 339, according to its sustainability reportThe majority of the 50 terminations remained in Kenya.

In May 2025, Equity Group’s president, James Mwangi, stated the loan provider had actually dismissed more than 1,200 workers after an audit of personnel deals, consisting of individual M-PESA activity. Mwangi stated the business would make such conduct audits a long-term practice, comparable to efficiency appraisals.

Equity dealt with getting cash from consumers as premises for termination, a conflict-of-interest test larger than straight-out scams. Safaricom’s figure covers just cases it examined as scams.

Outdoors financing, Kenya Power dismissed a minimum of 20 workers over abnormalities in the year to June 2025, consisting of 3 who conspired with guards and motorists in a diesel-theft plan that cost it KES 207.6 million ($1.5 million).