By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Innovation is exciting — until someone steals your M-Pesa balance and buys sausages with it at 2 a.m.
Welcome to Kenya’s digital fraud frontier. While the country leads in mobile money, fintech, and AI outsourcing, it also battles a rising tide of tech-enabled scams.
Common Scams You Might Meet:
1. SIM Swap Fraud – You wake up to find your SIM card deactivated. Meanwhile, someone else is draining your bank account while ordering pizza and Uber rides like a rockstar.
2. Fake Job Offers – That high-paying remote tech job that requires zero experience, pays in dollars, and gives you Fridays off? It might be a trap. Especially if they ask you to “register with a small fee” via M-Pesa.
3. Phishing Texts – “Dear Customer, your account has a problem. Click here.” Don’t. If your instincts scream “trap,” listen. Your phone isn’t asking for therapy.
4. M-Pesa Refund Scam – Someone sends you money “by mistake,” then calls crying and asks for it back. You send it… but the original wasn’t real. Congrats, you just paid a ghost.
📲 Fun Fact: Some scammers use more polite grammar than your HR department. They’ll even greet you with “Dear Esteemed Client” before emptying your account faster than a flash sale.
💸 Interesting Tidbit: Some fraudsters operate from cyber cafes using fake names like “Brian Zuckerberg” or “Bill Karanja-Gates.” Legends in their own inbox.
🧠 Satirical Thought: If scamming were a college major, Kenya would be awarding honorary degrees. A few might even graduate summa cum laude with a minor in Mobile Money Misuse.
It’s a Growing Industry
With every new fintech app comes a new opportunity for scammers to test their creativity. They’re like evil UX testers — trying every loophole before you even launch.
💡 Wild Stat: Between 2022 and 2023, Kenyan banks lost billions of shillings to fraud. Not shillings as in “small change,” but as in “the CEO started sweating during the board meeting.”
How to Stay Safe:
- Don’t share your PIN. Not even with your dog.
- Use multi-factor authentication. Yes, it’s annoying. But not as annoying as explaining to your bank how a toaster ordered an iPhone.
- Never click links that say “urgent” unless it’s your mother texting about chapati.
- And if someone calls saying they’re from Safaricom but the number starts with +92… kindly block, report, and pour holy water on your phone.
🛑 Bonus LOL Moment: One Nairobi man reportedly scammed a scammer by pretending to be another scammer. Both ended up refunding each other. It’s like Inception, but with M-Pesa.
Final Word:
Kenya’s digital revolution is alive and kicking — and so are the fraudsters. It’s a cyber jungle out here. But with a little common sense, a healthy dose of paranoia, and some humor, you just might survive it.
Remember, innovation doesn’t sleep… and neither do scammers. Charge your phone, update your passwords, and never trust anyone who calls you “boss” at 3 a.m.
Next up in Chapter Twenty-Nine:
“The 5PM Phenomenon – Nairobi’s Legendary Walking Population.”
About the Author
John is an entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of JS Morlu, LLC, a Virginia based CPA firm with multiple software ventures including www.FinovatePro.com, www.Recksoft.com and www.Fixaars.com . With operations spanning multiple countries, John is on a mission to build global infrastructure that empowers small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. He believes in hard truths, smart execution, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. When he’s not writing or building, he’s challenging someone to a productivity contest—or inventing software that automates it.