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

Mon May 30 11:35:33 EAT 2022

Good point Dr. Ndemo.

My philosophy has been the less human intervention, the better and I agree
with you when it comes to automation.

Consumer awareness is also key.

Regards,
Willis Muriu
Rockville Consulting Limited
ICT Consultant

On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 11:12 AM Bitange Ndemo via KICTANet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> 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
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>>
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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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