Safaricom Fires 118 Employees Over Fraud in FY2026

Safaricom dismissed 118 employees over fraud-related offences in the financial year ended March 2026, while referrals of suspected cases to law enforcement agencies doubled to 14, according to the telecommunications company’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report.

The report, launched in Nairobi on October 27, 2026, shows that employee dismissals increased from 113 in the previous financial year, while referrals to law enforcement rose from seven to 14. The company also issued three disciplinary warnings, compared with none a year earlier.

The figures highlight Safaricom’s efforts to address internal misconduct and strengthen safeguards around its operations, customer information and mobile money services.

Types of misconduct that can lead to dismissal

The offences include theft, falsification of company records, unauthorised access to customers’ call records, breaches of security and compliance rules, and criminal conduct.

According to the report, suspected fraud may be identified through customer complaints or the company’s internal fraud-management systems. Once an incident is flagged, a manager or the Ethics and Compliance team investigates the matter before it proceeds through the disciplinary process.

Depending on the findings, an employee may receive a warning, be dismissed or have a suspected criminal offence referred to law enforcement for further investigation.

A dismissal is an employment decision and does not, by itself, establish criminal liability. A referral to law enforcement may trigger a separate investigation.

Safaricom recovers KSh953 million linked to M-PESA commissions

Fraud remained a major concern for the company during the reporting period. Safaricom identified fraud as the most frequently reported issue through its ethics hotline in FY2026.

The company also recovered KSh953 million, equivalent to approximately $7.34 million, linked to inflated M-PESA agent commissions through monitoring and data analytics. The amount was lower than the KSh1.7 billion recovered in the previous financial year.

However, the report does not establish a direct link between the recovered commissions and the employees dismissed during the year.

Safaricom further reported recovering 46 per cent of reported fraud losses, highlighting the challenge of not only detecting suspicious transactions but also retrieving funds after losses occur.

Fraud reduction falls short of target

Despite the disciplinary measures, Safaricom did not achieve its target for reducing fraud incidents. The company reported an 82 per cent reduction against a target of 90 per cent.

During the financial year, it also monitored approximately 1.25 billion attempted cyber intrusions and investigated more than 130,000 security events. These figures relate to different categories of digital and security threats and should not be interpreted as a single measure of fraud.

Safaricom has continued investing in systems intended to strengthen security across its services, including measures to improve identity verification during SIM swaps.

According to Business Daily, the company said its Single View SIM-swap platform helped reduce fraudulent SIM swaps by 65 per cent by consolidating identity checks and risk indicators into a centralised system.

Safeguarding customers as digital services expand

The latest figures underline the challenges facing telecommunications operators as mobile money and digital services become increasingly important to everyday transactions.

Customers need convenient access to their accounts, but weaknesses in internal controls or the mishandling of personal information can expose them to financial losses and privacy risks.

Safaricom reported that 98 per cent of its employees participated in its annual ethics-awareness programme in FY2026. It also expanded fraud-prevention engagement with M-PESA agents and business partners.

The company’s next challenge is to strengthen fraud prevention and internal accountability while ensuring that legitimate transactions remain convenient for customers.

While the rise in employee dismissals and law-enforcement referrals points to continued concerns over internal misconduct, Safaricom’s reported reduction in fraud incidents suggests progress in some areas. Whether further improvements in monitoring, employee accountability and customer verification can help it meet its future fraud-reduction targets remains to be seen.