The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti has assured the public that the fight against Sim Swap fraud is on course.
The DCI was speaking during a mobile money fraud risk engagement forum, an initiative by Safaricom in partnership with the banking industry. He called upon all Kenyans to avail information that would help identify criminals that are engaging in fraud activities across the country.
Kinoti acknowledged that the fight against cybercrime was facing a number of challenges because criminals have come up with sophisticated avenues to defraud innocent Kenyans.
“We have noted that, criminals are using the IEBC register which is available online to register sim cards which end up being used to carry out criminal activities,” he said.
In the past few weeks, a number of people have been arrested in connection with Sim Swap fraud. Safaricom says it has over the last one month taken measure in addressing the issue by educating and cautioning the public on how to protect their personal data, avoid sharing PIN numbers and passwords.
Safaricom last week also said it was considering the use of fingerprint biometrics to prevent sim swap fraud.
“If we bring in biometrics and someone tries social engineering, at some point they will be required to put in details like a thumb print to prove if that is a genuine customer authorizing SIM swap,” Director of Corporate Affairs at Safaricom, Stephen Chege said.
