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Mobile phones in Kenya are like bank accounts – some people keep all their savings on their phones – and fraudsters try to hack them to steal money.
Sammy Wanaina received a text message on Sunday asking her to provide the secret personal code so that her Sim card could be exchanged.
He was confused, he had not asked for a new card – and a few moments earlier, he had finished a call that he was now realizing due to a fraudster who had "It was acting" of a brief call and I have not given any of my details, "Wanaina told the BBC.
He immediately contacted Safaricom, his mobile service provider, for reporting that he suspected that there was an attempted fraud on his number.
Although he did not disclose his contact details – and that he reported fraud to Safaricom – he completely lost access to his number and did not regained control only after three days. He tweeted that Mr. Wanaina whol said that Safaricom contacted him after his complaint and gave him a new SIM card as a precaution – without giving any further details on how he lost access at his number.
The company tweeted to say that he was "committed to safeguarding customer information and … that we will follow this business up to its conclusion." "
"I lost $ 18,000"
His story prompted others to share their experiences – many of whom had the politician Stanley Wanjiku revealed that he had been trapped by fraudsters, losing $ 18,000 (£ 14,000).
He told the Daily Nation newspaper that his troubles started after he received a notification that he could not access his mobile wallet and had to call a number to reset it – this that he did.
He later learned that his Pin number was replaced, so he could not get access to his money. "I do not know how my mobile money was regenerated and distributed to strangers, I do not know how they identified themselves," Wanjiku said, adding that the bank account not linked to his mobile phone was also hacked .
People tend to have multiple SIM cards from different companies – because they have different covers and offers. This means that Sim cards are damaged, so it is not unusual for customers to want to replace them.
Kenya has the largest number of mobile money users in the world, a major reason Nearly half of its 47 million inhabitants use the dominant M platform -Pesa to pay for services and conduct business.
Through partnerships, the telephone companies have also been successful in integrating mobile money services with banks.
William Makatiani, of the cyber security consulting firm Serianu, told the Daily Nation that the scam to hack mobile phones was becoming more and more common.
"The exchange of cards has become a big problem especially in Nigeria since 2016. It began to gain momentum in Kenya in the last half of last year," he said. did he declare.
How to protect yourself
It is not clear exactly how this scam works Communica The Authority of Kenya, the body that regulates the mobile phone industry, told users of Be on guard:
- Never give out personal information
- Do not give out your personal identification number
- Pbadwords
- Be wary of unsolicited messages.
Safaricom also urged customers to save their pbadwords, birthdates and national identity numbers.
He also stated that subscribers had to know his official customer service number. being fooled by those trying to access their account
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