A suspected Mpesa agent fraudster on Saturday escaped the wrath of an angry mob in Makutano, Meru County.
The suspect was confronted by angry wananchi at Makutano after requesting that the shop owner contact a customer care agent via his phone because money had been sent to his phone but was inaccessible.
According to the owner, she became suspicious when she discovered that the number on the suspect’s phone was saved as customer care but was not the one used for Safaricom customer care services.
“As I spoke with the customer service agent, I became suspicious again when he mentioned the name of my Mpesa shop and the suspect had not made any transaction. When I asked him why he was asking personal questions, he became irritated and threatened that my shop would be shut down,” she said.
The owner said that the agent continued with his demands and asked if she had a Safaricom line so he could give her instructions on how to assist the suspect.
“When I ended the call and asked the suspect to reveal the identity of the agent, the suspect became uneasy. The suspect intended to use the same tactics he used on my employee earlier when a significant amount of money was stolen,” she said.
The suspect claimed that he was not a thief and that he had sent money to the wrong recipient.
“The recipient texted me a number and instructed me to save it as Safaricom before going to a Safaricom Mpesa agent shop and giving it to the attendant,” he said.
According to the suspect, when he arrived at the Mpesa shop as instructed, the attendant asked for his ID.
