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Safaricom PLC has responded to a customer who sent money to a number that is not in use.

Faith Gitonga took to social media, raising her complaint to the leading telecommunications firm and mobile money service provider.

She claimed that she sent KSh 3,100 to a friend but later learnt that the number was no longer in use.

"I tried reversing using 456, but it said it was past 24 hours, and I should send the message to 100. I sent the message to 100 since Sunday evening, but so far, nothing has been reversed," She complained via a Facebook post comment section.

In an exclusive response to, Safaricom maintained that money sent to the wrong number can be reversed by forwarding the transaction message to 456.

In the case that the money is sent to a number that is inactive or not in use, the telco advised customers to reach out to customer care for further assistance.

"For money sent wrongly, you can forward the message to 456 for reversal to be done within 2 hours or contact us to be assisted," said Safaricom.

The telco explained that M-Pesa accounts remain active even if the SIM card is deactivated.

The company warned that customers can send money to such accounts without noticing the SIM card is inactive or deactivated.

"Kindly ensure that you keep on topping up the line frequently to avoid line inactivity which would result to your number being recycled and sold back to the market after 120 days.

"Note that an M-PESA wallet does not expire even if a line is not in use," the company added.

In a related report, the telco shared the steps to reverse money sent to the wrong till numbers and pay bills.

These are:

The company added that for a Buy Goods transaction, one can contact the Safaricom customer to reverse the money.

However, for money sent to the wrong pay bill numbers, the customer needs to contact the organisation or company receiving the money for reversals. This means that customers should call the recipient for assistance.

Safaricom M-Pesa reversal takes 72 working hours for the customer to receive the amount sent to the wrong account.

The telco also directed customers on how to reverse the airtime mistakenly bought from M-Pesa back to cash.

Source: TUKO.co.ke