In January this year, Brandon* experienced a bizarre incident that has left him wary of sharing his M-PESA message after making a purchase.

While on his way home at around 8pm one evening, he narrates how he paid his fare using M-PESA as he did not have any cash on him.

“I was sited at the back of the matatu while the conductor was near the door. After paying, he asked me to show him my M-PESA message as proof of payment,” Brandon recalls.

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Thinking little of it, Brandon asked the passengers in front of him to pass his phone to the tout. The conductor confirmed the payment, and returned the phone back to Brandon.

“I arrived at my stop, Kolen stage opposite Golden life mall and alighted walking to my house near Nakuru Tanners. Two men who had been sitting next to the conductor alighted as well,” he says.

After walking a few meters, the two men came up to him forcefully and he immediately knew he was being mugged.

“They dragged me to a dark corner and said they wanted me to withdraw all the money in my M-PESA, insisting that they had seen how much money I had.”

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Shaken, Brandon agreed to the demands knowing that trying to fight the men off could put his life in danger.

He says one of the men gave him a piece of paper which had an agent number and asked him to withdraw the money there.

“After confirming that I had withdrawn the money, the men handed me my phone back and left.”

Just like that, his rent and money from a table-banking group that he was a part of was gone.

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We asked Brandon why he did not report the matter to the police despite having the M-PESA message showing the shop that the money had been withdrawn to.

“I do not think the police would have done anything to help me. A while back my phone had been stolen and when I reported it to the police, nothing was done,” the 27-year-old laments.

To date, Brandon says he is not sure whether the conductor had colluded with the men or not. He believes that the men saw his M-PESA balance when the tout checked to confirm that he had indeed paid the fare.

“Now thinking about it, it did not make sense for the conductor to see my phone yet he could easily have confirmed on his phone by asking my name,” he says.

What he is sure of however, is that he will never share his M-PESA message with anyone ever again.

sanyabret@gmail.com

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I was robbed after showing a matatu tout my M-PESA message

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Bret Sanya