New subject: How secure is mpesa

4 Jul 2011

      Hi Wachira,

Seems Dr. Ndemo has thrown the ball back in your backyard so here is our 
response to your issues;

1.  Safaricom logged onto the paybill account and made a reversal without 
notifying them or being requested from them, which is the bone of contention 
here.  Please lets address that issue as you have not yet done so in your mail.

2.  The charges incurred by the paybill number cannot be invoiced as if that is 
done it shall be deemed that services where rendered to Safaricom thus incurring 
taxes and with holding tax.  What Safaricom need to do is issue a credit note. 
 Please clarify this issue with your finance fellows so as to make sure that we 
are on the same page.

I believe your response to the issues raised above will determine if we need to 
have a meeting with the PS as referee on Thursday.

Regards
 Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________
From: Kangaru Wachira Kangaru <KWachira@Safaricom.co.ke>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Mon, 4 July, 2011 13:59:10
Subject: RE: [kictanet] How secure is mpesa

Robert,

Thank you for your feedback.

We would like to take this opportunity to provide clarity on the reversal 
process and the steps we taken to ensure the integrity of the system and process 
while securing subscriberâ€™s cash. 

Safaricom does not initiate the reversal but in our effort to assist customers 
who make genuine mistakes, we contact the PayBill partner with a request that 
they reverse the entry, which they are expected to do after establishing, on 
their side, that it is indeed a genuine error. 

Where a customer contacts us that they have paid to the wrong number, we follow 
the below process;
1.       The customer is given the contact numbers for the partner they paid in 
error to request for a reversal since as Safaricom, we cannot tell if the 
customer genuinely paid to the wrong client.
2.       If the customer is referred back to Safaricom, we contact the partner 
through an e-mail requesting for assistance.
3.       The PayBill partner then reverses the transaction by sending the money 
back to the customer.
4.       If the PayBill partner is unable to reverse the transaction, we reverse 
it back on their behalf after we receive the instructions from them.
The challenge that PayBill partners have been facing is that the charges 
incurred by them after the reversal to the customer is not reversible. However, 
we recognize the inconvenience this may pose and our Product Development team is 
looking into this with a view to come up with a long-term solution. In the 
meantime, we request our partners to invoice for the value after which we refund 
them.

On a wider scale, we are carrying out the BIG SIM (phone look-up) education to 
encourage subscribers to save PayBill numbers on their SIMs to avoid such 
errors.  We have also introduced  a service that allows our subscribers, on 
dialing *234#, to look up and verify PayBill account numbers. All this is 
actively done in keeping with our promise to give the best experience to our 
customers in all facets of our operations.

We are happy to be part of this discussion and appreciate the feedback we are 
getting. We reiterate our commitment to continue reviewing our processes to 
improve service offerings.

Regards,

__________________________________________________
Wachira Kangâ€™aru
Public Relations Manager | Safaricom | 
Telephone: +254 722 003973 |
Mobile: +254 722 574424

__________________________________________________
Wachira Kangâ€™aru
Manager, Public Relations| Safaricom | 
Telephone: +254 722 003973 |
Mobile: +254 722 574424

From:kictanet-bounces+wkangaru=gmail.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke 
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+wkangaru=gmail.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of 
robert yawe
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 9:13 AM
To: wkangaru@gmail.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] How secure is mpesa

Hi,

I am writing this post with a heavy heart as it will likely reverse gains that 
have been made in the ecommerce and ebanking/mbanking environment.

A client of mine, who shall remain unnamed for now in typical Kenya fashion, 
runs a site that accepts payments using the mpesa paybill system.  Due to the 
close similarity in various paybill number there has been a tendency for people 
to send money to the account erroneously.

As the errors have grown over time the client has had to come up with a way to 
manage the reversals so us to reduce the impact on their operations.  Last week 
Safaricom accessed the paybill number's account and initiated reversals without 
notifying them.  

How sure is Safaricom that the person who indicated that they had sent the money 
to the wrong number had not already consumed services?  As the post master 
general in waiting I am concerned that such action would have negative effect on 
ecommerce as reversal of a transaction based on the request of one party will 
definitely harm the other.

The reversed transaction still incurs the owner of the paybill number a cost 
that is not reversed, this issue was previously raised with the former MD of 
Safaricom Mr. Michael Joseph who instructed one of the managers to look into and 
resolve.  It has been over 2 years and the issue is yet to be concluded.

This action also indicates the issue of Safaricom mistreating SME organisations, 
if the error was made with the KPLC or Co-Op Bank accounts would the staff have 
the audacity to make direct reversals on the system?  

I believe the term for such action is blatant impunity that can only 
be practised by a  monopolistic player in an industry.  

With a heavy heart I send this post hoping that it will act as a wake up call 
both to Safaricom and the regulators (CCK & Central Bank) that we need better 
control and monitoring of the money transfer market otherwise we stand to scare 
the public which would result in its slow down.

Regards 

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________

From:Eugene Lidede (Synergy) [mailto: eugene@synergy.co.ke ] 
Sent: 04 July 2011 09:05
To: robertyawe@synergy.co.ke
Subject: M-PESA irregularities

Robert,

As we spoke; 
i)        Safaricom is now directly manipulating transactions in our M-PESA 
account without our consent or any manner of reference to us. Is this proper? 
(see red circle in picture below)
ii)      They never refund monies deducted from us resulting from the said 
reversals despite the fact that we are not party to initiating the â€œwrong 
paymentsâ€� (see blue circle). These are wrong payments intended for co-op 
bankâ€™s 400200 but instead sent to our 400100.
iii)    This issue has been outstanding since October last year during Michael 
Josephs days. Safaricom has refused to sort it out. Several emails to their 
M-PESA department regarding this issue have gone unanswered even those 
specifically addressed to the referenced Caroline lady.
iv)    With the deteriorating relationship, it might be time we considered 
PesaPal, ZAP and Orange money seriously as a payment platform for our retail 
subscribers

Regards

Eugene Lidede | Chief Technology Officer | Synergy Systems Limited
6th Floor, Phoenix House, Kenyatta Ave. | Cell: +254 721 289497/476367 | Tel: 
+254 20 2113163
live.mystocks.co.ke | www.propertykenya.com | www.mystocks.co.ke
Outstanding Online Investment Content Provider 2009â€“ Computer Society of Kenya

________________________________

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________________________________

Re: [kictanet] How secure is mpesa

robert yawe

Andrea Bohnstedt

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