Safaricom—Kenyan court held Safaricom 60% liable for KES 4.4M SIM-swap fraud loss, ruling the fraudulent swap 'was Safaricom's to prevent'
On July 13, 2026 Justice Asenath Ongeri ruled that Safaricom and Diamond Trust Bank must compensate a customer who lost KES 4.4 million to SIM-swap fraud, apportioning 60% of liability (about KES 2.63 million) to Safaricom and 40% to the bank. The court found that permitting the fraudulent SIM swap was 'a direct and proximate cause of the loss', rejected the argument that a correctly entered PIN absolves the providers, and dismissed Safaricom's cross-appeal against its liability share. The ruling sets a consumer-protection precedent for Kenya's mobile-money ecosystem.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Data Security | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.214 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Daily Nation and Kenyan tech press reported court holding Safaricom 60% liable in KES 4.4M SIM-swap fraud
Kenya's Daily Nation, Techweez and Tech-ish independently reported Justice Asenath Ongeri's July 13, 2026 ruling that Safaricom bears 60% of liability (about KES 2.63M) for a customer's KES 4.4M SIM-swap fraud loss, with Diamond Trust Bank liable for the rest. The court held that permitting the fraudulent swap was 'a direct and proximate cause of the loss' and that a correctly entered PIN is not a defence.