Safaricom dismissed 118 staff for fraud within the 12 months to March, even as fraud incidents fell 82%, pointing to a declining insider risk amid an intensified crackdown at Kenya’s largest telecoms operator.
The determine, disclosed within the firm’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report launched on Tuesday at its Nairobi headquarters, is greater than 4 occasions the 28 dismissals recorded in the year to March 2021. It equates to about 2% of the 5,648 individuals the report lists as staff.
Earlier disclosures put the tally at 95 in the year to March 2024 and 113 in the year to March 2025, so the climb has been regular somewhat than a one-off spike.
Insider conduct carries uncommon weight at Safaricom as staff sit near buyer knowledge, SIM registration and the agent community that strikes cash throughout M-PESA, Kenya’s dominant mobile-money platform. The report treats theft, falsifying firm data, and unauthorised entry to buyer name data as gross misconduct that can lead to dismissal.
“Our customers entrust us with their personal information, communications and financial transactions and expect our services to be secure, reliable and responsible,” Safaricom mentioned within the report.
The report lists 118 fraud circumstances investigated and 118 dismissals, together with three disciplinary warnings, up from none the prior 12 months. Referrals to legislation enforcement doubled from seven to 14. Fraud was the most typical concern raised by way of Safaricom’s nameless ethics hotline.
The rise comes as the corporate says its anti-fraud push is working. It lower fraud incidents by 82%, wanting a 90% goal, and recovered 46% of reported fraud losses. Monitoring and analytics additionally recovered KES 953 million ($7.4 million) linked to inflated agent commissions.
Safaricom mentioned it moved from an investigation-led mannequin to real-time detection protecting inside, distributor and mobile-money fraud. The report doesn’t break down dismissals by position, worth inside losses, or say what number of circumstances led to expenses.
According to the report, fraud consciousness coaching reached 5,643 individuals throughout staff, name centres, M-PESA, distributors and model ambassadors, and 98% of staff accomplished the annual ethics programme.
Group Chief Risk Officer Nicholas Mulila mentioned the corporate is dedicated to “embedding accountability across our operations.” Safaricom named in-person social engineering as the most important supply of buyer fraud.
Crackdown on insider threats
The staff dismissals over fraud mirror what is occurring within the banking business, the place sharper detection has additionally pushed dismissals larger. KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, dismissed 60 staff for fraud in 2025, up from 34 in 2024, even as reported fraud incidents fell to 201 from 339, in line with its sustainability report. Most of the 50 dismissals have been in Kenya.
In May 2025, Equity Group’s chief government officer, James Mwangi, mentioned the lender had dismissed more than 1,200 employees after an audit of staff transactions, together with private M-PESA exercise. Mwangi mentioned the corporate would make such conduct audits a everlasting apply, much like efficiency value determinations.
Equity handled receiving cash from clients as grounds for dismissal, a conflict-of-interest check wider than outright fraud. Safaricom’s determine covers solely circumstances it investigated as fraud.
Outside finance, Kenya Power dismissed at least 20 employees over irregularities within the 12 months to June 2025, together with three who colluded with guards and drivers in a diesel-theft scheme that value it KES 207.6 million ($1.5 million).
