[kictanet] Be careful what information you give and to who!

[J.R. Kirongothi]

The thugs are never asleep devising ways  and means of robbing us. I 
received the following from a friend:


Not sure you've heard of this incident? - Better be safe than sorry!

This incident happened to a colleague recently. A bad experience indeed.
He received a call from someone claiming to be calling from Safaricom. The 
caller was very composed.
The caller told him "thank you for being our loyal and valuable MPESA 
customer. You recall we had initially given you a black SIM card but changed 
to green". He answered in the affirmative. The caller then went ahead to 
tell him that Safaricom was running a reward promotion scheme for their 
loyal MPESA customers and went ahead to ask him to confirm his National ID 
number and year of birth. Unsuspecting, he disclosed that information. 
Coincidentally his birth year was also his Mpesa Pin no.
The guy posed for a while and asked him whether 19- - (say 1967) was his 
year of birth .He again answered in the affirmative.
The caller then told him he would be sent Nokia 8230, but before then he 
needed to dial *33*0000#, which he did. He was then told not to call or 
transact anything using his line for the next ten minutes as they perform 
transactions, purportedly at Safaricom, facilitating the process of 
receiving the Nokia 8230 set. He complied. He is asked about his current 
location, which information he gives.
After 10 minutes he tried to call back the number to confirm status of the 
alleged gift only for the following message to appear "Barring all outgoing 
calls activated for SMS services activated for all data circuit async".
After 15 minutes the wife calls him on his alternate line claiming that 
someone had called her using his (husband's) safaricom line telling her to 
send them Ksh.10,000 for his release from arrest. She is baffled and hence 
decides to use alternate line, only to discover he is safe and sound.
In the meantime the wife calls safaricom to block the line, but it was too 
late, as all the money in his MPESA had been withdrawn.
What is apparent is that this line was blocked by the code he typed, viz 
*33*0000#.
The question uppermost in mind is how it could be unblocked without some 
form of connivance by Safaricom staff. He had a substantial amount in his 
Mpesa account. Could these thugs be getting targeting lines-with good 
balances through connivance with Safaricom staff.
It is unlikely Safaricom will admit culpability, but tujichunge wenyewe. 
Keep safe.

The caller identified himself as Alex Omondi(Of course fake name) and called 
using  0720 464 777  0720 464 777
It is safer to tell this caller to call back in a while whilst you check 
with Safaricom customer care by dialing 100 from your Safaricom line or  020 
4272100  020 4272100 from land line or any other line. Do not carry out any 
instructions on phone without firm confirmation that you are doing the right 
thing.





Capt(rtd) Jessie R. Kirongothi
Deputy Director--MIS-Systems Development
KASNEB.
KASNEB Towers, Hospital Road, Upper Hill
P.O Box 41362 - 00100, Nairobi - Kenya
Tel: 254 (020) 2712640 / 2712828
Fax: 254 (020) 2712915
Email: kirongothi at kasneb.or.ke