Safaricom unveiled plans to distribute currency checking equipment to m-Pesa agents to combat money laundering and prevent fake currency being deposited into mobile money accounts, Business Daily reported.

In an interview with the publication, the operator’s chief corporate security officer Nicholas Mulila said its whole agent network would receive cash scanners and training on how to use them to identify fake or suspect notes.

He added all agents will receive the kit by the end of the year and the move is part of its “effort to fight the flow of fake currency”.

The move will also help protect its agents against losses incurred by accepting deposits of counterfeit notes, as many currently lack the ability to test it.

By the end of December 2018 there were 198,234 mobile money agents in Kenya, the vast majority of these offer transactions into and out of Safaricom’s m-Pesa platform.