[kictanet] SIM card registration status

[Chris Foster]

Dear Odhiambo,

I've been interviewing a few M-Pesa agents recently and it seems that 
often the M-Pesa scams can be very sophisticated. One of the most common 
ones is when an agent is visited or called by 'technical support' and 
asked to type in a number on their phone which supposedly upgrades their 
phones and reduces congestion on their M-Pesa line. Unbeknown to them 
they are transferring M-Pesa to a particular number. Other scams involve 
some social engineering, whether that be a distressed women who claims 
to have been robbed, or a fake Safaricom rep - both who will ask to use 
the M-Pesa phone and then transfer.

On the sim registration process, my guess is that it is on the way back 
up the agenda! In the last few weeks Safaricom seems to have been 
promoting this again (presumably as an approach to tackle the recently 
sharp increase in M-Pesa fraud, which has been discussed on this list) 
and if you go into a SC dealer shop, you are very likely to see some 
recently distributed Sim registration posters and leaflets around.

Thanks
Chris

-- 
Christopher Foster
PhD Researcher, Centre for Development Informatics (CDI)
University of Manchester, UK

Mob: 0738 101 723
Mob (uk): +44 (0)7751 537350
Skype: cgfoster




On 24/03/11 09:11, kris njoroge wrote:
> Saw the same piece last night and was wondering the same, thought that 
> it would be so easy to catch this guys, like once they leave the 
> robbed Mpesa agent the agent makes a call and the transaction is 
> reversed. They could get away with not getting caught but would not 
> have the money so would deter them from doing it again.
>
> The sim registration process was all a hoodwink or a quick get rich 
> scheme by someone, don't know how but think so. Why would they start 
> something and then not enforce it? Maybe someone in the know could 
> enlighten us all. Thought the days of mobile crime were long gone?
> -- 
> *
> If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. -Emerson M. Pugh
> *
>
>
>
>
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