Re: [kictanet] SIM card registration status
Saw the same piece last night and was wondering the same, thought that it would be so easy to catch this guys, like once they leave the robbed Mpesa agent the agent makes a call and the transaction is reversed. They could get away with not getting caught but would not have the money so would deter them from doing it again. The sim registration process was all a hoodwink or a quick get rich scheme by someone, don't know how but think so. Why would they start something and then not enforce it? Maybe someone in the know could enlighten us all. Thought the days of mobile crime were long gone? -- * If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. - Emerson M. Pugh *
Dear Odhiambo, I've been interviewing a few M-Pesa agents recently and it seems that often the M-Pesa scams can be very sophisticated. One of the most common ones is when an agent is visited or called by 'technical support' and asked to type in a number on their phone which supposedly upgrades their phones and reduces congestion on their M-Pesa line. Unbeknown to them they are transferring M-Pesa to a particular number. Other scams involve some social engineering, whether that be a distressed women who claims to have been robbed, or a fake Safaricom rep - both who will ask to use the M-Pesa phone and then transfer. On the sim registration process, my guess is that it is on the way back up the agenda! In the last few weeks Safaricom seems to have been promoting this again (presumably as an approach to tackle the recently sharp increase in M-Pesa fraud, which has been discussed on this list) and if you go into a SC dealer shop, you are very likely to see some recently distributed Sim registration posters and leaflets around. Thanks Chris -- Christopher Foster PhD Researcher, Centre for Development Informatics (CDI) University of Manchester, UK Mob: 0738 101 723 Mob (uk): +44 (0)7751 537350 Skype: cgfoster On 24/03/11 09:11, kris njoroge wrote:
Saw the same piece last night and was wondering the same, thought that it would be so easy to catch this guys, like once they leave the robbed Mpesa agent the agent makes a call and the transaction is reversed. They could get away with not getting caught but would not have the money so would deter them from doing it again.
The sim registration process was all a hoodwink or a quick get rich scheme by someone, don't know how but think so. Why would they start something and then not enforce it? Maybe someone in the know could enlighten us all. Thought the days of mobile crime were long gone? -- * If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. -Emerson M. Pugh *
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Sam, thanks for bringing up the subject. It was indeed sad to see on TV the smartly dressed men walk into a shop and casually carry out their 'activity' without people realizing! I pray to God that they will get caught - thanks for the CCTV. However, what does this say about our society? Recently when Safaricom was upgrading their system, some guy posing as a Safaricom agent called an MPESA agent and guided him in keying some code on his phone to complete the upgrade! What the Agent didn't know is that by punching those keys (note -no amount was entered), a whole 120k was transferred from his phone to the thief's phone! This was immediately reported to MPESA but only 20k was recovered - the rest had been withdrawn within 30 minutes. The case was also reported to the police immediately - but the question is - what can the police do? Someone please shed some light. From: kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of kris njoroge Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 9:11 AM To: emuchiri@andestbites.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] SIM card registration status Saw the same piece last night and was wondering the same, thought that it would be so easy to catch this guys, like once they leave the robbed Mpesa agent the agent makes a call and the transaction is reversed. They could get away with not getting caught but would not have the money so would deter them from doing it again. The sim registration process was all a hoodwink or a quick get rich scheme by someone, don't know how but think so. Why would they start something and then not enforce it? Maybe someone in the know could enlighten us all. Thought the days of mobile crime were long gone? -- If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. - Emerson M. Pugh
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:34, Esther Muchiri <emuchiri@andestbites.com>wrote:
Sam, thanks for bringing up the subject. It was indeed sad to see on TV the smartly dressed men walk into a shop and casually carry out their ‘activity’ without people realizing! I pray to God that they will get caught – thanks for the CCTV. However, what does this say about our society?
Recently when Safaricom was upgrading their system, some guy posing as a Safaricom agent called an MPESA agent and guided him in keying some code on his phone to complete the upgrade! What the Agent didn’t know is that by punching those keys (note -no amount was entered), a whole 120k was transferred from his phone to the thief’s phone! This was immediately reported to MPESA but only 20k was recovered – the rest had been withdrawn within 30 minutes. The case was also reported to the police immediately – but the question is – what can the police do?
Someone please shed some light…
When you call the M-Pesa support line, you do get this impression of a "long queue in the bank". You know what I mean? Then you get a REP who is more interested in niceties than the problem you are reporting. I feel that the Special Crimes Prevention Unit needs to work very closely with the MNOs in finding ways of addressing such crime. They can setup a joint bureau to deal with this. I mean, some cops can be seconded to a joint unit formed and funded by the MNOs to address such crimes, so that action can be taken immediately. 30 minutes is so long in the electronic world. That theft could have been stopped. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Damn!!
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com>wrote:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:34, Esther Muchiri <emuchiri@andestbites.com>wrote:
Sam, thanks for bringing up the subject. It was indeed sad to see on TV the smartly dressed men walk into a shop and casually carry out their ‘activity’ without people realizing! I pray to God that they will get caught – thanks for the CCTV. However, what does this say about our society?
Recently when Safaricom was upgrading their system, some guy posing as a Safaricom agent called an MPESA agent and guided him in keying some code on his phone to complete the upgrade! What the Agent didn’t know is that by punching those keys (note -no amount was entered), a whole 120k was transferred from his phone to the thief’s phone! This was immediately reported to MPESA but only 20k was recovered – the rest had been withdrawn within 30 minutes. The case was also reported to the police immediately – but the question is – what can the police do?
Someone please shed some light…
When you call the M-Pesa support line, you do get this impression of a "long queue in the bank". You know what I mean? Then you get a REP who is more interested in niceties than the problem you are reporting. I feel that the Special Crimes Prevention Unit needs to work very closely with the MNOs in finding ways of addressing such crime. They can setup a joint bureau to deal with this. I mean, some cops can be seconded to a joint unit formed and funded by the MNOs to address such crimes, so that action can be taken immediately. 30 minutes is so long in the electronic world. That theft could have been stopped.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223
Esther does well to mention CCTV. 50K to 100K for a simple CCTV system may seem much to MPESA agents until they lose that amount in a day. Tying this thread to the digital media thread & Washington's comments about MNO's & the Police: Would it not be wiser to use CCTV footage of these kinds of incidents as Local Content -- Reality TV -- for Local Communities? How many cases are not followed up by the Police because Local Communities do not recognize (or follow up) their efforts? Why not use Reality TV to encourage them to perform better. Community policing will also help ID criminals in CCTV footage for the police to pursue & apprehend. Policing should be tied to local communities (villages, towns, cities, counties) that are here to stay... not MNO's.
Apparently the requirement to register Sim cards was not/and is not yet supported by any legislation/law. Accordingly, people cannot be FORCED to register their sims. Unless some law has been cobbled recently which I am not aware of, this was an initiative by the Ministry of Information, and latterly supported by the president. But the requirement does not have the support of the law. Sad. George
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com>wrote:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 10:34, Esther Muchiri <emuchiri@andestbites.com>wrote:
Sam, thanks for bringing up the subject. It was indeed sad to see on TV the smartly dressed men walk into a shop and casually carry out their activity without people realizing! I pray to God that they will get caught thanks for the CCTV. However, what does this say about our society?
Recently when Safaricom was upgrading their system, some guy posing as a Safaricom agent called an MPESA agent and guided him in keying some code on his phone to complete the upgrade! What the Agent didnt know is that by punching those keys (note -no amount was entered), a whole 120k was transferred from his phone to the thiefs phone! This was immediately reported to MPESA but only 20k was recovered the rest had been withdrawn within 30 minutes. The case was also reported to the police immediately but the question is what can the police do?
Someone please shed some light
When you call the M-Pesa support line, you do get this impression of a "long queue in the bank". You know what I mean? Then you get a REP who is more interested in niceties than the problem you are reporting. I feel that the Special Crimes Prevention Unit needs to work very closely with the MNOs in finding ways of addressing such crime. They can setup a joint bureau to deal with this. I mean, some cops can be seconded to a joint unit formed and funded by the MNOs to address such crimes, so that action can be taken immediately. 30 minutes is so long in the electronic world. That theft could have been stopped.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223
Esther does well to mention CCTV. 50K to 100K for a simple CCTV system may seem much to MPESA agents until they lose that amount in a day.
Tying this thread to the digital media thread & Washington's comments about MNO's & the Police:
Would it not be wiser to use CCTV footage of these kinds of incidents as Local Content -- Reality TV -- for Local Communities?
How many cases are not followed up by the Police because Local Communities do not recognize (or follow up) their efforts?
Why not use Reality TV to encourage them to perform better.
Community policing will also help ID criminals in CCTV footage for the police to pursue & apprehend.
Policing should be tied to local communities (villages, towns, cities, counties) that are here to stay... not MNO's.
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participants (6)
-
Chris Foster -
Esther Muchiri -
George Nyabuga -
kris njoroge -
Odhiambo Washington -
S.Murigi Muraya