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

Mon May 30 16:08:28 EAT 2022

I know a close relative who has had to get a new number because of spam
calls. It seems as though Safaricom wamewezwa with this.  The sim swap
thing is for real, but I also think if we can manage and educate on the
spam calling, then we will be better able to focus on the real sim swap
issue.  I think, right now, it is difficult to tell the trees from the
forest..

On Mon, 30 May 2022 at 05:00, Adam Lane via KICTANet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> I have reported several of the spam callers to Safaricom; I don’t know if
> they just block the numbers, or if they actually report to DCI and allow
> investigation and prosecution.
>
>
>
> If no-one gets prosecuted then this is a no-risk business model. If people
> get prosecuted then at least there is some risk/cost that must be
> considered compared to the potential revenue the scammers get…
>
>
>
> *From:* KICTANet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+adam.lane=
> huawei.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Barrack Otieno via
> KICTANet
> *Sent:* Monday, May 30, 2022 11:30 AM
> *To:* Adam Lane <adam.lane at huawei.com>
> *Cc:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Sim card swap: How Farah Bashir lost Sh2.6m to
> fraudsters in hours
>
>
>
> Goodmorning Daktari,
>
>
>
> I am in agreement. Most of these attacks are purely Social Engineering
> moves and indeed they are on the rise and very persistent. We need to step
> up Consumer awareness and digital literacy, the fraudsters are evolving
> daily and becoming too sophisticated. Consumers should be encouraged to
> tighten their security. Two Factor Authentication is a good start. There is
> need for an evaluation on whether it is adequate, but Consumer Awareness
> which is believe is in CA's purview and Digital Literacy are key.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 11:20 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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> 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.
>
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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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> --
>
> Barrack O. Otieno
> +254721325277
> +254733206359
> Skype: barrack.otieno
> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
>
>
>
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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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