Nairobi — The number of staff fired by Safaricom for engaging in fraud-related activities grew by 37.5 percent in the full year ending March this year as the telco sought to curb rising cases of fraud.

The telco says in its annual report that this increased from 24 during a similar period last year.

It mainly affected SIM-swap, and they kept track of suspicious activities.

SIM-swap occurs when a fraudster convinces an operator that they are the genuine owners of a line through pretense.

"Safaricom has a whistle-blowing policy that provides for an ethics hotline managed by an independent, accredited and external institution," the report reads.

"Through the hotline, anonymous reports on unethical/fraudulent behaviour can be made without fear of retaliation from the suspected individuals."

After accessing customers' numbers, fraudsters can access customers' bank accounts before stealing money.