- Safaricom introduced a new M-Pesa feature that hides senders’ phone numbers in M-Pesa transactions, effective March 24
- The telecommunications company explained to TUKO.co.ke the simple steps that M-Pesa users should use to verify sender details
- The telco emphasized that the new feature will reduce fraud by hiding the middle three digits of the phone number
Safaricom has hidden phone numbers in mobile money transfers as part of M-Pesa’s privacy protection measures, making it difficult for recipients to see senders’ information.
Source: Twitter
The change has raised concerns among users M-Moneyespecially business operators, as complaints about customers sending the wrong amount, whether more or less than intended, are often not resolved.
How can M-Pesa recipients find the sender’s details?
In response to a query from TUKO.co.ke, the telecommunications giant explained a simple step to verify the sender’s details, including full name and phone number.
The company noted that recipients should forward the M-Pesa message to the USSD code 334 within 24 hours.
“To verify the sender’s identity, you can forward an M-Pesa verification message to 334 within 24 hours,” Safaricom explained.
Why did Safaricom introduce the new M-Pesa feature?
A new M-Pesa feature that hides phone numbers in M-Pesa transactions was officially launched by Safaricom on Tuesday, March 24.
The expansion of the service to accept merchant payments was approved by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which presented it as a complete privacy upgrade in line with the Data Protection Act 2019.
The telecom company reaffirmed that by hiding the middle three digits of the phone number, the new feature will reduce fraud.
Previously, when money was transferred through M-Pesa, recipients received a confirmation SMS from Safaricom that included the sender’s full phone number and full name three.
From March 24, recipients will still see the sender’s first and last names, but the phone number will be partially masked, for example, 0705***734.
Source: Twitter
The amount, reference number, and transaction date will not change.
Safaricom has also extended this coverage to Paybill and Buy Goods text messages for small businesses. Previously, this change only applied to large organizations directly connected to the C2B and Buy Goods APIs.
How many M-Pesa transactions does Safaricom handle?
The main service affected by the move will be M-Pesa’s face-to-face remittance feature, which handles 37 million daily transactions worth KSh 27 billion out of a total of 137.9 million daily transactions of KSh 118 billion.
Every day, 14.1 million peer-to-peer (P2P) users are registered on the platform.
These numbers highlight the importance of the update, making it one of Safaricom’s most significant privacy improvements to M-Pesa since its inception in 2007.
What was the court’s decision about the dead phone lines?
In other news, Safaricom and other telecommunications companies are not allowed to sell unused lines without the consent of previous users.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, a person’s mobile number becomes his digital representation if he provides his national ID and other details.
Kenyans reported cases where the phone details of their deceased loved ones were given to other people.
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
