KARATINA, Kenya – In a dramatic story that highlights both the perils of mobile money mistakes and the power of social media, a woman from Kirinyaga successfully recovered Ksh 52,000 after a frantic multi-day effort that involved bank calls, police reports, and a relentless Facebook hunt that tracked the recipient to his village.
The ordeal began on Friday when the woman, attempting to transfer funds from her Equity Bank account to her M-Pesa wallet, accidentally keyed in the wrong number. The hefty sum of fifty-two thousand shillings was instantly sent to a stranger’s line.
She only realized the grave error when she later tried to make a payment and discovered her M-Pesa balance was completely empty. Panic immediately set in.
“I was devastated. That was my money for important expenses. I knew I had to act fast,” she recounted.
Her first port of call was Equity Bank’s customer care. After a tense ten-minute wait on the line, she received the devastating news she dreaded: the recipient had already withdrawn the entire amount. The money was gone from the mobile wallet.
Unwilling to accept the loss, she leveraged her contacts and reached out to a friend working in an anti-fraud unit. This friend managed to perform a preliminary trace, identifying the registered phone number as being located in Kamungei, Uasin Gishu county. This was a crucial first clue, but the recipient was proving elusive.
Armed with this information, the determined woman took her plea to the court of public opinion. She posted her entire story, including the phone number, in a popular local Facebook group. This is where the story turned.
Kenyans on Facebook, often dubbed “social media detectives,” sprang into action. The post quickly gained traction, with strangers offering help, sharing the number, and providing new leads. Through this collective effort, they managed to pinpoint the exact area and even began identifying the individual associated with the line.
Despite this breakthrough, direct contact failed. The woman placed over twenty calls to the number, all of which went unanswered. She sent pleading text messages, explaining the situation was a terrible mistake and begging for the money’s return. Her appeals were met with silence.
By Saturday morning, with all other options exhausted, she decided to involve the authorities. She filed an official report at the Karatina Police Station, obtaining a precious OB number. She was then referred to the DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigations). However, officers there initially dismissed her case, labeling it “complicated” and implying recovery was unlikely.
Just as hope seemed lost, a new lead emerged. She was connected to other DCI officers from Eldoret, who were closer to the recipient’s location. These officers took a more proactive interest in the case.
Meanwhile, the Facebook detectives had unearthed a major twist. They discovered that the Safaricom line, while registered under a young woman—a student at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC)—was actually being used by her boyfriend, a bodaboda rider in Uasin Gishu. They even dug up photographs of the couple and shared them with the area chief, who positively confirmed the man’s identity.
The net was closing in. The local chief, now aware of the public and official scrutiny, confronted the individual. The pressure from the chief, the village elders, and the viral Facebook post became too much to bear.
On Sunday evening, the chief called the Kirinyaga woman with incredible news. The bodaboda rider, accompanied by village elders, had shown up at the chief’s home ready to settle the matter. Full of remorse, he apologized profusely and returned the entire Ksh 52,000 in cash.
The story serves as a powerful reminder to always double-check M-Pesa details before sending money. It also highlights the potent force of community and social media in achieving justice, even when official channels seem slow to act. For one woman in Kirinyaga, the kindness of strangers and the relentless pursuit of what was rightfully hers paid off in the end.
