How Safaricom Scammed Me Sh50,000

HOW SAFARICOM SCAMMED ME Ksh 50,000. LONG READ.

By Wilson Olenye

I had initially planned to post about this yesterday but I needed at least a day to contemplate and comprehend the horror that Scamfaricom has meted on me.
On Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 7:29 PM, I received Ksh 50,000, which was payment for goods from one – Daniel Mwangi Mukami of 0704841672. At this point, everything seemed banal and normal with the transaction but as it eventually turned out, well, according to safaricom it wasn’t. However, I didn’t know that at the time and ended up honoring the payment and finalizing my transaction with the sender.

Things would then go south, real quick after 3 hours when I tried to purchase airtime via Mpesa and was told there was an error with my line. Like any Kenyan would do I quickly turned off my phone assuming it was a network error or something benign like systems downtime. To my shock, the line was still inactive after many feeble attempts to revive it. I decided to call customer care with my other line and they fed me with a thick mixture of nonsense and excuses that couldn’t really help me. The following day I abandoned all my regular activities went to your I&M shop, and was referred to the HQ in Westlands because apparently this was an issue for the MPESA Fraud department, and being a Friday evening I had to wait till Monday be assisted.

On June, 25, 2018 I finally made it to the Mpesa Fraud department and explained to this guy, Emmanuel, my situation which he seemed to understand but very adamant to instantly assist in. When I finally asked why my line was suspended, he said, “The source of the money sent to your account is questionable and thats why we Suspended your line and Froze your account.” I couldn’t understand this and asked what he meant questionable, because as a merchant, I cannot, even with superpowers know where my client gets his money, as a matter of fact there is no law the dictates you to know the source of funds before receiving. Anyway this guy tells me that they had no choice to but to suspend my account because my line was the last in a paper trail of dirty funds and the only way is to produce the guy who sent them. Since I traded with the person online it was impossible for me to produce him but I kept asking myself why would Safaricom want me to go look for this person, who also happens to be their customer, and they have all the resources and data to get him, why don’t they just go and get him. The guy couldn’t answer this question and insisted on me getting him.

Realizing it was getting late, I was chasing my tail with that track the guy for us nonsense, and also having savings in my KCB balance stuck in the phone number too, I decided to ask the guy whats the miminum requirement to reactivating my line because I wasn’t returning there for this matter again.

Things got really interesting because the guy suddenly became lively and said, “We must recover the amount first before the we reactivate it.” I was very shocked to hear this, since when does Safaricom, a mere SERVICE PROVIDER, act as judge, jury and procecution in this kind of matter? Safaricom is no bank or police to pass this types of verdicts, especially in a case where the sender didn’t call claiming a refund for products undelivered. Also when do Safaricom really help to reverse payment? Last year I lost 60K after an agent reversal was done after i had already sold and you never helped me! even after many police intervenions and now you want to reverse my money? What the Fuck??!!

After a long discussion, I eventually relented and said they can do whatever, as long as my account was gonna be fine before I leave their HQ. He then said he will recover the money from my balance and activate the account. “But i only have Ksh 47,857 in that account!” I retorted, “Dont worry, we shall take all that, and advice on how we will take the rest.” A piece of me died when hearing this. As they put me on the chopping board, and started stealing my money I pondered where they were taking it. I mean, this is not an ordinary reversal, because the number that sent me the money Daniel Mwangi Mukami of 0704841672, had hitherto, been suspended too. So where are you taking it, because theres no way you can retrace it back to the original owner when the guy that sent me is not in the chain. Thirty minutes later, I was briefed that my line was up and I should be good to go true to that, it was functioning but my MPESA balance was completely wiped out, without a trace. “Where had they sent it?” Reaching home, I requested my MPESA statement and there it was
“Customer Transfer Reversal by M-PESA\DChiri”
They had conducted a REVERSAL to an unknown entiry, not known t me, not spoken of by Emmanuel. They had simply RIPPED ME OFF my hard earned money.

My missive will be ended if you retun my money and explain;
1. What is this “Customer Transfer Reversal by M-PESA\DChiri” why is he the one receiving the reverse?
2. Which law/act allows you to reverse money from your customer without the sender issuing a claim?
3. What if the sender withdrew the cash at an ATM or Mpesa Agent would you have suspended the agent and demolished the ATM?
4. Is my money part of the rewards being gifted in the MPESA-TU promotions? Psych!(I know it is!)
5. Are your customers safe? and do they know this is happening should they only receive money from people they can produce to your HQ in case issues arise with transactions?
6. Who (if any) really lost the original money?
7. Will you handle it in the same way in case it happens in future?
8. Is this your standard procedure when handing such issues? Just suspending a line regardless of being active for 7 years without any disputes?
9. Will the real culprits ever be brought to book?
10. Is part of your team in cohoots with the fraudsters?
Those were just at the top of my mind questions, I have more and would like to engage with someone in Safcom who can help me recover my money back. For now you left me with my dick in my hands, out kSH 47,875, am out of my good too, so thank you very much!

Oooh..I also noticed very many people, on your signing book suffering with the same issue as me, so if you are experiencing this dont suffer in silence, the more we share the faster they’ll address the issue. If they are hellbent on stealing let me be the last one who suffers. No more. Shit hurts. A lot.