TNM Malawi mobile app crashes, strands diaspora remittances as WhatsApp Business hacks compound crisis
Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) is facing a dual crisis this week after its flagship TNM Smart App suffered a prolonged crash that has left Malawians in the diaspora unable to complete critical financial transactions, just days after a mass hacking campaign compromised WhatsApp Business accounts tied to TNM numbers.
The app outage, which users began reporting early Monday, has rendered the platform’s Mpamba mobile money services and airtime top-up functions largely inaccessible. For the estimated hundreds of thousands of Malawians living abroad particularly in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States the timing is particularly painful.
Diaspora remittances are a lifeline for many households in Malawi, and the TNM Smart App has become a primary channel for sending money home without needing a local SIM card or visiting an agent.
“I have been trying since morning to send money to my mother in Zomba for her medication,” said a Malawian nurse based in Manchester, who requested anonymity because she feared retribution from the platform. “The app just keeps spinning. It logs me out, then says there is an authentication error. My mother is waiting. This is not just an inconvenience; it is a failure of a service we depend on.”
The crash appears to be part of a broader pattern of instability affecting TNM’s digital infrastructure. Third-party payment aggregators have repeatedly logged “performance degradation” incidents involving TNM services in recent months, with a significant outage recorded as recently as early October affecting web deposits and payouts .
While TNM has not issued a formal statement on the current app crash, user reviews on app stores have long flagged recurring authentication glitches that appear to have culminated in the current outage .
The situation has been exacerbated by a wave of cyberattacks targeting TNM subscribers on WhatsApp. Over the past week, Malawians have reported a surge in account takeovers, with fraudsters seemingly bypassing two-step verification and email recovery options. The attacks have disproportionately affected users with TNM numbers, according to affected individuals and local media reports.
TNM acknowledged the WhatsApp compromise on Wednesday, stating that it has engaged Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, to address the issue. The operator advised customers to enable two-step verification, avoid sharing PINs, and check linked devices.
However, users like Mathews Nthunzu Latwel, who spoke to local media, say the standard security advice is insufficient. Latwel reportedly lost access to his WhatsApp Business account along with critical business data despite having two-step verification enabled and his email linked to the account .
The combination of the app crash and the WhatsApp hacks has created a perfect storm for small business owners and diaspora families who rely on digital channels for both communication and commerce. With the Smart App down, many are unable to check balances, transfer funds, or even purchase airtime to keep their lines active. Meanwhile, the loss of WhatsApp Business accounts has severed a primary customer service and sales channel for informal traders across the country.
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has previously warned about the rising sophistication of fraudsters using fake mobile money messages and hacked WhatsApp accounts to solicit money from contacts. Consumer advocacy groups have also recently called on the regulator to investigate deteriorating network quality and mobile money delays across both major operators, citing financial losses to consumers.
As of late Monday, TNM had not provided a timeline for when the Smart App would be fully restored. For members of the diaspora watching their transactions fail and their family members’ WhatsApp accounts vanish, the reassurances ring hollow. “We are told to be patient,” the nurse in Manchester said. “But patience does not pay for medicine. TNM needs to fix this, and they need to tell us what is happening.”
TNM customers experiencing issues are advised to attempt transactions via USSD codes where possible, though the reliability of those channels during the current outage remains uncertain. The operator is expected to release a further statement as the technical teams continue to work on both the app infrastructure and the WhatsApp security breach.
