Having cents in your M-Pesa balance can be worrying because most transactions are in whole numbers. This was the case on twitter when @ItsMutai asked Kenyans to be keen when checking their M-Pesa balances. He asked affected subscribers to question service provider, Safaricom.
“Kenyans need to have this conversation on #SafaricomMpesaFraud. Check your Mshwari/Mpesa Balances. If your balances end with CENTS, you need to find out why. Where did you pay in cents? Or what charges left you with cents? Were you informed by Safaricom? Why are you ok with it?” read his tweet as quoted by techweez.
This tweet made Kenyans ask themselves and the telecommunications company tough questions. They did not understand the source of cents in their balances. Some started calculating the amount Safaricom gets from the alleged fraud.
@stevewahome254 tweeted, “If #SafaricomPLC gets 50 cents from each registered member daily that is 45000000*0.50+ 22.5M profit daily. THAT’S AN AWESOME HUSTLE.”
@pinchezmuiruri stated, “This got my attention, my M-pesa balance reads .85 cents, I have never transacted anything in cents it’s only in shillings, clearly @SafaricomPLC @Safaricom_Care have been stealing from its customers. #SafaricomMpesaFraud.”
However, this is not fraud as many view it. Lipa Na M-Pesa is one of the reasons you have cents in your balance. Some entities have cents as part of the fee while transacting Lipa Na M-Pesa.
Secondly, if you use M-Shwari as a savings vehicle, the interest accrued might end up having cents. Lastly, most Safaricom shareholders get their dividends via M-Pesa, which can include cents.