Two people have been arrested following the Safaricom Fraudulent scandal that was report by subscribers.
The two suspects in connection with SIM card fraud are believed to be a Safaricom employee and a university student from Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT).
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in a tweet he said that among seized from the suspects on Friday were 2,160 unused Safaricom SIM cards and three M-Pesa Safaricom booklets.
The items recovered following the arrest are: “One Laptop make Apple, 2,160 unused Safaricom SIM cards, 44 used Safaricom SIM cards, 5 till agent numbers, 3 M-Pesa booklets, internet booster router, two mobile phones — a blackberry and Samsung J7.”
The following items were recovered: One Laptop make apple,2,160 Unused Safaricom #SIM cards, 44 Used Safaricom SIM cards, #Five Till Agent numbers, #three Mpesa Safaricom books, #Internet Booster Rauter and #two mobile phones; a blackberry and Samsung J7. pic.twitter.com/Z9lJCtExfs
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) July 21, 2018
The suspects have been identified as Mr Maurice Musoti, who is said to be a Safaricom employee, and Mr Rian Abaga Nyagaka, a fourth year engineering student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
#ARREST: Mr. Maurice Musoti an employee of #safaricom & Rian Obaga Nyagaka, a fourth year student at #JKUAT studying BSc.Electronic Engineering were arrested yesterday in connection with the #simcard Fraud. pic.twitter.com/21LlsovnD7
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) July 21, 2018
The arrest of the wo comes barely twpo days after the the Communication Authority of Kenya warned mobile phone users against disclosing their sensitive information like the personal identification information (PIN) to third parties, amid widespread reports of SIM card swap fraud.
In the SIM card swap fraud, the fraudster will makes a call to the user pretending to be an employee of a mobile network operator, when a mobile user picks the call, the fraudster then asks the unsuspecting mobile subscriber to share their information such as their national ID number, mobile money PIN, or SIM card PIN, among others.
Once they get the information they then goes ahead to swap the SIM card thereby gaining access to all the SIM services, including mobile money transfer, mobile and internet banking, voice calls, SMS, data services and any other service that can be accessed through the SIM.
The Telco giant Safaricom has however indicated that the network does not solicit for personal information from its subscribers for whatever reason.
Following a statement by Safaricom od Risk Management Nicholas Mulila,“As a precautionary measure against social engineering, enabled by sharing of personal details, we would also like to remind our customers to safeguard information such as SIM and M-Pesa PINs, dates of birth and national ID numbers.”
Mr. Mulila has however urged subscribers to contact their customer care lines 100 0r 200 anytime they suspect a fraud caller and assistance will be provided whenever in doubt of any transaction.
It is believed that these crafty criminals collude with insiders within the service provider to ask for personal information about subscribers’ accounts before defrauding them and blocking their SIM cards.
The mobile service provider has also cautioned its subscribers against responding to calls by people purporting to be from Safaricom if the caller ID is any other number besides its official number: 0722 000 000.
Customers have also been advised to report such cases to the nearest police station as soon as they occur.
Already, the DCI has launched an inquest into this scheme through which unsuspecting Kenyans have been losing their hard-earned money.
A survey conducted in 2017 by Truecaller revealed that Kenyan mobile phone subscribers were among those who are highly targeted by fraudsters in Africa.
The report titled, Truecaller Insights Special Report: The Top 20 Countries Affected by Spam Calls, also showed a decline in telephone etiquette despite the expanding subscriber base