Panic As Payless Africa Freezes With Billions of Customers Cash After Costly Jambopay Blunder

Nairobi, December 7, 2025 – A crisis is unfolding in Kenya’s digital payments sector as Payless Africa users find themselves locked out of an estimated Sh2.1 billion in savings following the spectacular collapse of payment processor JamboPay, leaving hundreds of thousands of Kenyans unable to access their money for nearly three months.

The catastrophe began in September when JamboPay, the payment gateway handling Payless’s backend operations, abruptly ceased processing withdrawals.

What started as sporadic delays has spiraled into a full-blown freeze, with the JamboPay portal now completely offline and displaying expired security certificates that bizarrely redirect to an obscure ePayments site registered under Kajiado County Government.

Payless Africa, the savings and payments app that had attracted over 680,000 active users through aggressive influencer marketing, continues accepting deposits even as withdrawals remain paralyzed.

The platform’s customers, ranging from small business owners to ordinary Kenyans saving for school fees, now stare helplessly at account balances they cannot touch.

Mary Wambui, who runs an online clothing store in Eastlands, has Sh680,000 from September sales trapped in her Payless account.

The money was meant for supplier payments and staff salaries.

“Every week they promise disbursement next Monday, then silence. Now I can’t even access the website properly,” she said, her voice breaking with frustration.

The situation is equally dire for Joseph Kamau, a Westlands electronics dealer owed Sh1.2 million since early September.

“Three months without that money means we can’t pay suppliers or staff. This is not just inconvenience, it’s business collapse,” Kamau told reporters.

In Mombasa, a single mother shared screenshots showing Sh20,000 earmarked for her child’s school fees now stuck in the system, with error messages blaming “M-Pesa intermittency” even as the platform continues processing new deposits without issue.

JamboPay, launched in 2012 as one of Kenya’s pioneering online payment aggregators, once processed billions annually for county governments, schools, parking systems and thousands of small businesses.

At its peak, it boasted integration with over 40 banks and was a trusted name in digital payments.

However, industry insiders say the company has been struggling since the Central Bank of Kenya tightened Payment Service Provider licensing rules in 2023, introducing stringent capital and reporting requirements that left several smaller players unable to comply.

Independent cybersecurity analysts who examined the [jambopay.com](http://jambopay.com) domain discovered the SSL certificate expired weeks ago and now points to an entirely different entity tied to Kajiado County Government, sparking speculation that customer funds may have been rerouted through unauthorized channels without disclosure.

“When your payment gateway’s security certificate points to a county government server, that’s not maintenance, that’s a red flag,” said Victor Omondi, a Nairobi-based fintech expert.

Attempts to reach JamboPay have proven futile. Listed phone lines return busy tones or automated messages stating “the subscriber cannot be reached.”

The company’s official Twitter account last posted in July 2025, and its Facebook page has been deleted entirely.

The only public statement came via a cached version of their website claiming “system upgrades and migration to a more secure platform” without providing any timeline.

Payless Africa issued a statement on social media earlier this week insisting that all customer funds are “100 percent safe” and blaming JamboPay for refusing to release escrowed money during a handover to a new payment service provider.

“You will access every coin as soon as our previous PSP releases the funds,” the company promised, though no specific timeline was provided and previous assurances of “imminent restoration” have repeatedly failed to materialize.

The statement has done little to calm nerves.

Users attempting to reach Payless customer care encounter automated chatbots that loop endlessly before disconnecting, or WhatsApp lines that go unanswered.

The app itself continues displaying account balances and accepting deposits, a detail that has fueled allegations that the platform may be operating a scam.

Consumer protection groups have demanded immediate regulatory intervention.

“When a PSP goes dark and customer money is unaccounted for, CBK must freeze all related accounts and appoint an administrator,” said Stephen Mutoro, secretary-general of the Consumers Federation of Kenya.

“Kenyans cannot keep losing millions every time a payment company decides to play hide-and-seek.”

One disturbing revelation has emerged from merchant investigations: several recent bank transfers intended for JamboPay accounts were allegedly landing in personal accounts linked to former company directors, though these claims remain unverified.

The crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in Kenya’s rapidly growing fintech sector, where aggressive marketing and promises of high returns have often outpaced robust consumer protections.

Payless had positioned itself as a modern alternative to traditional savings methods, with viral campaigns featuring popular influencers promising seamless transactions and attractive interest rates.

By hitching its operations to JamboPay, a company already struggling with regulatory compliance, Payless gambled with customer funds on unstable infrastructure.

Industry analysts warn this may not be an isolated incident, with other fintech startups potentially facing similar risks if they rely on undercapitalized or non-compliant payment processors.

Merchants who depended on JamboPay are now scrambling for alternatives, switching to competitors like Pesapal, iPay, or direct M-Pesa Paybill numbers.

But recovering trapped funds remains the urgent priority for thousands who run payroll, pay suppliers and manage operating expenses from these collections.

As the crisis enters its eighth week with no official communication from either JamboPay or clear intervention from the Central Bank of Kenya, frustration is boiling over into anger.

Merchant WhatsApp groups are organizing protests, and hashtags demanding account access are trending across social media platforms.

The Central Bank of Kenya, which oversees payment service providers, has yet to issue a public statement on the matter.

The regulator’s silence has only deepened concerns that customers may face lengthy legal battles to recover their money, if they can recover it at all.

For now, thousands of Kenyan entrepreneurs and savers remain locked out of their own money, staring at healthy account balances they cannot touch while a once-trusted payment brand appears to have vanished, leaving only expired certificates and unanswered questions about where billions in customer funds have gone.