[kictanet] Sim card swap: How Farah Bashir lost Sh2.6m to fraudsters in hours

[Bitange Ndemo]

Before we all panic, it is important to dissect the problem here from all
sides.  My cousin, a teacher lost Ksh. 57,000 from his bank account. When
he called me for help, I asked him many questions. It occurred to me that
he had inadvertently given out his data to some unknown people disguising
themselves as sales reps marketing a new offer from a competing
telecommunications operator. In my view, we need to do the following: take
the digital literacy program very seriously, sensitize citizens around data
protection laws and leverage artificial intelligence (voice recognition for
security purposes) for any withdrawal, especially among the very vulnerable
in society.  Institutions like Kenya Power and Lighting Company (virtually
every week I receive a fake call from "KPLC") should devise more secure
ways of dealing with customers in the digital era.  Since most of the fraud
is largely an inside job, much of the backend work should be automated.

Ndemo

On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 10:42 AM Deborah Wanjugu via KICTANet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Thank you for this article, Victor.
>
> This is quite frightening because prepaid customers on Safaricom cannot
> call 100 and get served by an agent (that was my experience which made me
> migrate back to postpaid).
>
> If the gentleman in this article acted as quickly as he possibly could and
> reached out to Safaricom on Twitter yet did not get the help he needed then
> something is terribly wrong with that online reporting system.
>
> I've noticed that when customer service agents respond on social media
> they respond based on their own perceptions and not what the client tells
> them. This isn't always the case and I'm not referring to Safaricom alone.
> As a random example I reported not having received my electricity bill to
> Kanya Power on Twitter. Instead of sending me my estimate, one of the
> agents asked for the nearest marker to my place so they could send
> technical support.
>
> Another problem is when you call to report fraud with your bank then they
> start asking you questions which feel irrelevant at the time. I once
> thought my card had been hacked so when I called to report it they asked me
> some silly questions. I don't remember what they were but I do remember
> being pissed and having to contain myself under the pressure.
>
> There needs to be a tightening of customer service particularly with
> respect to online fraud reporting.
>
> I don't know what other pieces need to be fixed. This is where my personal
> beef is.
>
> Deborah
>
> On Mon, May 30, 2022, 10:14 Victor Kapiyo via KICTANet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Morning Listers,
>>
>> In the news today:
>>
>> Farah Bashir is yet to come to terms with how his bank accounts were
>> wiped clean by fraudsters, barely two days after he had landed in
>> Johannesburg for a two-week assignment in February.
>>
>> He painfully recounted how he watched helplessly as Sh2.6 million was
>> withdrawn by hackers in several transactions from his four different Absa
>> Bank accounts between February 7 and February 9.
>>
>> Read more:
>> https://nation.africa/kenya/news/sim-card-swap-how-farah-bashir-lost-sh2-6m-to-fraudsters-in-hours-3831356
>>
>> SIM Card fraud has been in the bees lately. The sums lost are pretty
>> high. I bet there are many sad tales from individuals who've lost collasal
>> amounts due to sim swap fraud.
>>
>> How come we're not able to contain this crimes? I wonder who's the
>> weakest link here that needs to pull up their socks? It's really a big
>> threat to our digital economy if we can't address this growing menace.
>>
>> Happy to hear your thoughts on this.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Victor
>>
>>
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> KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions
> interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a
> catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector.
> Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building,
> Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
> KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy
> engagement platform.
>
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