Safaricom Intensifies Fight Against Identity Theft Through ‘Tuwaanike Campaign’

Safaricom has further taken measures to strengthen its resolve in the fight against fraud that has seen subscribers lose colossal amounts of cash from their M-Pesa accounts from time to time.

Fraudsters keep up to date with current affairs and use sophisticated methods to access customer accounts and wipe their accounts clean.

They customize their cons to fit the relevant context and to befit the latest Safaricom promotions which sound very believable to the customer.

They have perfected the art of impersonating bank officials, Safaricom staff, government officials and even needy cases in society to target their victims.

Read: Safaricom Now Among the Top Ten Most Valuable Firms in Africa

Subscribers are often tricked into revealing their information such as ID card number or their pin which the fraudsters use to swap their Simcards and empty their accounts within a short period of time.

Subscribers who have signed up for mobile banking are also targeted as the fraudsters continue finding ingenious ways of getting to their accounts, sometimes, even taking loans using their details.

Below are some consequences of Identity theft

1. They can operate anonymously using your name and your details. They can defraud the rest of the public using your name and defame you with your family, friends, colleagues or business associates.
2. They can use your details in criminal activity such as money laundering, threatening other people, terrorism activity etc.
3. They can receive or transfer funds for the fraudulent activities which law enforcement will trace back to you thus creating legal trouble for you.
4. Illegal activities carried out using your line could be traced back to you e.g. kidnappings, robbery, carjackings etc
5. The imposter can take loans using your details, fuliza or okoa jahazi thus putting you in debt.
6. Unpaid debts, which may be unknown to you, could land you in CRB. This will give you a bad credit score making it difficult for you to access loans.

“Safaricom continues to beef up your online security as they develop various measures to ensure that your details and your money remain safe. The latest tool dubbed ‘Tuwaanike’ limits double simcard registration which is one loophole the fraudsters have been taking advantage of,” the telco says.

Using ‘Tuwaanike’, Safaricom will ask for your confirmation when your ID number is used to register another line. The sim registration alert notification will prompt you to agree to the registration or to cancel by selecting ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

This means that no other number will be registered under your name without your knowledge. This simple but crucial step will go a long way to ensure security of your number which once registered, can be used to commit the atrocities listed above.

Read: Safaricom Introduces Feature That Alerts You When Someone Tries To Register New Line With Your ID

There is no limit to the number of lines that can be registered under one identity. Some people use many lines for work, business and private purposes.

The sim registration alert is sent to the most active number on the network, or M-Pesa. Sim registration alerts will fail in cases where your phone is off air.

To find out how many lines have been registered using your ID, call 100.

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