STRATEGIES USED BY MPESA AGENTS AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN DETERRENCE OF COUNTERFEIT BANK NOTES FRAUD IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY
John Muinde Kimani - Masters Student, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Merecia Sirera (PhD) - School of Business, Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
M-pesa is a mobile money transfer and agent banking system that has become popular over the years due to its easy and cheap access to financial services, especially to the middle and lower classes of the society. However, this type of service has lately been threatened by many cases of counterfeits in Bank notes and fraudulent transactions which ultimately challenges the effectiveness of the strategies used to deter counterfeits. The study employed descriptive survey design and targeted population was M-pesa agents, police officers, Safaricom, and the Banking Anti-fraud unit in Nairobi City County. Using both Purposive and Simple Random sampling techniques the sample size of 109 was drawn. To collect data for the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Descriptive Analysis was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that there were fraud-related challenges deterring M-pesa agents in countering fake bank notes in their operation, the prevalence of these challenges in the deterrence of counterfeit notes was found to be very high in Mpesa agent operation. Lack of skills and detection Kits were the main challenges facing Mpesa agents in the deterrence of counterfeit banknotes fraud. Other challenges facing Mpesa agents in the deterrence of counterfeit banknotes fraud includes Poor enforcement and coordination mechanism, easy counterfeited Security features on bank and Lack of advanced technology. Study further revealed that only a few Mpesa agents use detectors due to their high prices of acquiring the device. Those had employed the use of detectors to counter fake money in their operation said that this method was effective. Mpesa Agents are looking much on training so as to be in a position to recognize the fake money. Safaricom officials are working hard to ensure that the challenges to the deterrence of fake bank notes comes to an end by doing Monitoring, coordinating and doing reviews of their agents. Mpesa agents are continuously reviewing and improving on their internal controls such as surveillance and internal audit, primarily in the defense against fraud. There was a strategy to increase funding for advance equipment and technology and also there was hope for Safaricom’s mobile money agents were to start using photos to identify those withdrawing or depositing money on the M-Pesa platform to curb fraud. Police officers were found to co-ordinate with the Law enforcement to end the challenges to the deterrence of fake bank notes. The study recommended the central bank of Kenya to research and develop new notes with innovative security features that are both easy to check and hard to counterfeit. The study recommends further research to be done to establish other challenges other than deterrence of counterfeiting that is facing Mpesa business in Nairobi City County.
