Jane, So sorry. A real, real scary this one,if you ask me. With all the other scary stories appearing in dailies almost daily, question begs; who can you trust in handling your sensitive data - ( Call it information security).Actually data is now flying all over the place, banks, mobile money transfers, security, health sector, IEBc etc. How do you hold them to account for your privileged information they hold to ensure it's protected from rogue insiders and other security leaks...? Oh, what did we resolve on the debate on information security handling a while back..? Do the input we make here really impact policy formulation..? O.k back to my cocoon ..! Harry Jane Kagiri <kagirijane@yahoo.com> wrote:

Good morning all,I BELIEVE THIS IS A MUST READ BECAUSE KENYANS MUST START SPEAKING OUT AND WE MUST GET ANSWERS WE URGENTLY NEED FROM SAFARICOM. Here goes my story. Yesterday we were at a wedding with a friend of mine,unfortunately her handbag containing all her documents,keys and phones was stolen. To cut a long story short, a lady who had ever been through the same experience adviced us to urgently call all the banks she holds accounts with to stop any transactions. We called the banks and they greatly assisted. It is then that another lady reminded us that we also needed to call safaricom to stop any mpesa transactions too. My friend remembered she had KShs 48,000 on mpesa which she had received to pay for her nephew college fees. Thats when we realized that we needed to urgently call Safaricom, I tried calling for as long as i could until i finally got a customer care agent on the line. I handed my friend the phone to speak to the agent so as to give any details that would be required and i wouldnt know,but from here,PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. My friend identified herself and went on to explain that her bag had been stolen containing her phones and gave her number requesting if it could be blocked. What caught my attention to the call is when my friend responded," What has my mpesa balance got to do with my request to block my number", but again my friend went ahead to reveal the amount and give her ID number which she was asked for on realizing maybe the agent just wanted to be sure the money was still there. Thats when the agent said " Oh no,the money is much much less, " Again my friend in anger asked,"what is much much less yet you can see the amount on the screen?" the agent  went ahead to say that KShs 40,000 had been transfered one hour ago to another number,my friend quckly jumped at that now certain the number would lead us to the thief,the agent quickly changed and said " No you directly withdrew from an mpesa agent,to which again my friend asked for the details knowing atleast we would follow a trail and see if the bag was dropped somewhere along the way, the agent then said she couldnt reveal any details until we reported to the police and an investigating officer allocated to that case,she concluded by asking where we were to which my friend responded Kiambu and she adviced that we needed to get my friend's mpesa statement to get the details and the nearest customer care from where we were according to her is Nakumatt Mega. That is when i smelt a big fat rat and questions started running through my mind. 1. Which thief however intelligent would be able to guess a pin in a record 30 minutes and get it right and despite being a thief withdraw KShs 40,000 and leave KShs 8000?  2. Why would the Safaricom customer care agent claim it to be a transfer then all of a sudden claim its a withdrawal from an agent when asked about the number yet those are two transactions with very different codes? 3. Why would anyone in her proffesional capacity refer to an amount as much much less yet if you recall from any calls you may have had with an agent they directly tell you what your balance is?  4. Why would an agent be quick to want to know what your mpesa balance is yet your interest is to have the line blocked? 5. Is Nakumatt Mega the nearest Safaricom Customer Care Office or was someone trying to buy time? 6. As claimed when the call began,i believe that this call was recorded,over to you Bob Collymore, this is one call that needs to be replayed and audited. Finally,this led me to a conclusion with a phrase i tell everyone," Everything happens for a good reason,you may not see it now but one day you will. If my friend's bag was stolen for Kenyans to finally know the truth about what is happening yet we are made to believe its a sequence of events, she confidently says she will have played her role in society. DEAR ONES, LETS BREAK THE SILENCE AND START ASKING QUESTIONS This incident reminded me of something that happened to me last year, i didnt have money on mpesa and requested a friend who had KShs 20,000 on his to send someone,he erroneously put in a wrong number and the money went to someone else,when we called Safaricom,we were told that the person had already transfered KShs 5000 to another number but they had managed to reverse KShs 15000 and we would get it back in 2days, a few minutes later the same agent called claiming that the KShs 15000 had also been withdrawn, how i wish i had asked questions then because i would have saved so many other people,the more i talk, the more i realize so many people have gone through the same and its common with five digit amounts and what i wondered is, does the information we give in our desperation end up being someone elses fodder. We need answers urgently,safaricom.

Kindly advice on the way forward. Your's faithfully Jane Kagiri

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