How to use Safaricom M-PESA Hakikisha feature to know the real names of persons behind the numbers calling you

Have you ever, using your Safaricom mobile money wallet – M-PESA, sent money to a wrong number?

Then you know all too well how things go from the moment you realize you’ve made a mistake entering the phone number of the intended recipient.

For Safaricom mobile phone subscribers who find themselves in a situation like this, the company advises their M-PESA users to immediately alert them of such transactions by calling 234 to initiate a reversal of funds.

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It seems they were getting many calls (given the company’s dominance in the voice, data and mobile money transfer sectors in Kenya) from people who sent money to numbers they never intended to be recipients of their funds, prompting the telco giant to introduce their Hakikisha feature.

What is it (Hakikisha) and how do you use it as an M-PESA customer?

Once you go to Safaricom > M-PESA > Send Money option and key in details like the mobile phone number you want to send money to, the amount and enter your M-PESA pin and press (tap) OK, you’ll see a quick summary of very important details before any money leaves your M-PESA account.

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The details include the recipient’s phone number and the amount to be deducted from your M-PESA account and transferred to theirs.

Here’s where problems arise.

In the knowledge that the phone number and amount you have keyed in are correct, you press (tap) OK again to complete the transaction.

But some people realize a bit late (that they have entered the wrong number or amount), when money has left their M-PESA account prompting them to do two things:

  1. call the person they have sent the money to, to return it to their account, even if it means sending less the amount they have received (for the applicable rates M-PESA charges for transfer of funds). This can be achieved quickly though some will fill your heart with grief by switching off their phones, buying data bundles for their own internet enjoyment, withdrawing the money immediately to pay their small debts or transferring the amount to their M-Shwari account.
  2. get in touch with M-PESA customer care, for example by calling 234 or 100. With many M-PESA users, it can take awhile to reach a customer care agent that fully takes care of your needs and quickly does a reversal.

So, Safaricom came up with a simple way to avoid most of the troubles that come with sending money to a wrong number.

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Their way of helping you Hakikisha that the amount you had in mind quickly and safely reaches the person you intended it for.

What happens is, after entering your M-PESA PIN and pressing (tapping) OK (twice) you’ll see details like the real name of the person whose number you entered earlier, the amount and a prompt to reply to the prompt by typing 1 (the number one) within 20 seconds to stop the transaction before it completes – and money leaves your account.

This means if a mistake escaped your attention the first time, M-PESA gives you a second chance to quickly redeem yourself – a feature that wasn’t part of M-PESA for many years.

How to use M-PESA Hakikisha to know the names of the people behind the numbers calling you

Now, you can use this feature to know the real names of the people behind the numbers that find their way in your phone’s incoming calls log (and text messages inbox).

How? Take a number from your log.

Go to M-PESA > Send money option and enter it.

Enter amount (say 10 Kenyan Shillings – the lowest amount you can send via M-PESA to another user).

Enter your PIN.

Tap (press) OK and their name should show (it might really not be them – but the name of the person who registered for M-PESA services on that particular SIM card – like happens with teens with no government-issued identity cards – for reasons like being under 18 years of age and still in secondary school – who use M-PESA active lines registered under the name of a parent, guardian, aunt, uncle, friend or sibling etc.).

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Once you see the name (the main objective in this case), simply reply by entering 1 within twenty five seconds to stop the transaction.

Why would you want to use the M-PESA Hakikisha feature this way?

  1. To know the names of people who may be misrepresenting themselves to you – individuals who think their anonymity is a license to disturb your peace and waste your time.
  2. To know the real names of the people behind those funny spam text messages awash with opportunities of a lifetime (and details of how you can get money you won in contests you never took part in – obviously people casting their nets wide, offline and on the internet, in a bid to con as many Kenyans as they can of their hard-earned money).

Use this feature to Hakikisha you send the correct amounts of money to your intended recipients.

Apart from that, use this service to hakikisha unajua jina (you know the names of people behind the Safaricom phone numbers in you incoming calls log –the ones who use their power of anonymity to mess your day.

Like that guy or girl your ex gives your phone number to play with your mind – asking you silly questions and spinning tales so unbelievable you want to reach them – travelling at the speed of sound – and slap them hard on the face).

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