Paynecta sends short codes by SMS at a few specific moments, and never at any other time. Knowing which moments those are is most of what it takes to spot somebody pretending to be us.

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Nobody from Paynecta will ever ask you for a code

We will never call, message or email you asking for a code. Not to verify your account, not to release a payment, not to fix a problem, and not because something is urgent.A code is proof that you are holding your phone. Reading one out to somebody hands them that proof. Anyone asking for one is trying to move your money or take your account, whoever they say they are.If you get a code you did not ask for, somebody is trying to use your number. Do not enter it anywhere, and tell us at support@paynecta.co.ke.
This applies to your customers too. A code sent to a payer is theirs alone. If a customer tells you they have been asked to share one, they are being defrauded by somebody who is not us.

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When we send one

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Why a payment needs one at all

The code is what stops Paynecta becoming a way to send M-Pesa prompts to strangers. If a number could be supplied by anyone, anyone could push payment requests at people who never asked for one, using your page and your shortcode. Safaricom treats those as unsolicited pushes and flags the shortcode they came from, which would be yours. So the payer types their own number and proves it once. See Keeping payments honest.

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A returning customer is not asked twice

A payer can choose to be remembered on the device they are using. For the next fourteen days, on that device and for that number, they go straight to the M-Pesa prompt with no code in between. Fourteen days rather than forever, because phones change hands and numbers get recycled, and a payment page that trusts a number indefinitely eventually trusts the wrong person.

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Stopping prompts going to waste

Every code and every prompt costs something to send, and a payment that is never completed spent that for nothing. A few habits carry most of the difference:
A mistyped digit sends a code, and possibly a payment prompt, to a stranger who will ignore both. The payer confirms their number on the page for this reason, so let them read it rather than reading it to them.
An M-Pesa prompt does not stay on screen for long. Somebody who has to find their phone, unlock it and remember a PIN before it disappears often will not make it. Send it while they are holding the phone.
There is a short wait between codes on purpose. Asking again immediately does not make the first one arrive faster, and two codes in a row make it harder for the payer to know which one to use.
A cancelled or expired prompt is not always final the instant it looks final. Give the status a moment to settle rather than sending a second prompt on top of the first, which charges nobody twice but confuses everybody.
A payer who opens the page sees the business name, the amount and what it is for, and can check all three before entering a PIN. Payments confirmed on screen fail far less often than payments agreed over a phone call.

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Next

Your payment page

What a customer sees, and how they pay.

Keeping payments honest

The rules behind the code, and what each one prevents.