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Safaricom Unveils New System To Secure M-PESA Pin

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Photo Courtesy

Safaricom Limited has today(Monday November11)  unveiled a voice bio metrics known as ‘jitambulishe’ that would be used for resetting M-PESA pins and PUK.

The new system aimed at curbing fraud will enable customers to access services through a quicker and less intrusive vetting process.

Through a statement, the communication service firm said the system will require customers to identify themselves using their voices before accessing their M-PESA PINs and any PUK requests.

To activate the service, the customer’s voice patterns are captured and used to create a unique “voiceprint”  storing it as a secure string of numbers and characters. This will also be used to identify and verify customers by call agents at Customer care.

In order to ensure no hacking will occur, there will be no reverse engineering which may put the system at risk of being hacked.

“We are redesigning our customer care approach to remain in line with shifting trends in the market and to take advantage of emerging technologies,” said Mr Joseph Ogutu, Director – Strategy, Safaricom.

READ: Safaricom Forced To Refund Subscribers After Failed Results Delivery

The voice prints of the customers will aim to reduce fraud and identity theft as well as ensure faster and more efficient services provided to customers.

“Our contact center agents spend a greater portion of their call time verifying customers over phone. The introduction of this service will ensure that customers get faster and more accurate services. We anticipate that the number of fraud incidents shall also reduce as a result,” said Mr. Ogutu.

Other services offered on the Voice bio metrics system include the recently launched M-PESA for the Visually Impaired solution.

By dialing 100 or 234, visually impaired customers can identify themselves by their voices before having their M-PESA balances read out to them.

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Written by Kahawa Tungu

Email: news@kahawatungu.com

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