Safaricom Fires 118 Employees in Major Fraud Crackdown

Safaricom has dismissed 118 employees over fraud-related offences in the financial year that ended in March 2026, as Kenya’s leading telecommunications company intensifies efforts to strengthen internal controls and protect customer information.

The dismissals increased from 113 recorded in the previous financial year, according to the company’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report released on October 27, 2026.

The report also shows that Safaricom referred 14 cases to law enforcement agencies during the year, double the seven cases reported in the previous financial period.

The disclosures provide insight into how the telecommunications giant is responding to suspected internal misconduct as its mobile money and digital services continue to expand.

According to the report, offences that can lead to dismissal include theft, falsification of company records, unauthorised access to customer call records, security breaches and other conduct that violates company policies or amounts to a criminal offence.

Safaricom says disciplinary action depends on the findings of investigations and the nature of the misconduct.

The company identifies suspected fraud through customer complaints and its internal fraud management system, which helps detect irregularities in business processes.

Once a case is flagged, a manager or the Ethics and Compliance team investigates the matter and determines whether it should be handled informally or through a formal disciplinary process.

The findings are then forwarded to Human Resources, where a disciplinary committee determines the appropriate action under the company’s policies.

The report identifies fraud as the most frequently reported category of concern through Safaricom’s ethics hotline during the 2025/2026 financial year.

The company also issued three disciplinary warnings during the period, compared with none in the previous financial year.

Separately, Safaricom reported recovering KSh953 million linked to inflated M-PESA agent commissions through monitoring and data analytics. The report does not establish that these recoveries were directly connected to the 118 employee dismissals.

Safaricom also reported an 82 per cent reduction in fraud incidents against its target of 90 per cent, while recovering 46 per cent of reported fraud losses.

The telecommunications company continues to strengthen its internal compliance and security measures as digital financial services become increasingly important to its operations.

Unauthorised access to customer information is among the offences identified in its disciplinary framework, underscoring the importance of protecting confidential records.

The latest figures highlight the scale of Safaricom’s disciplinary response to fraud-related misconduct. They also show that the company continues to face challenges in meeting its fraud-reduction targets despite its internal monitoring and enforcement measures.

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