SIM swap banking scam: what you should know
The spate of SIM swap scams, which results in fraudsters stealing large amounts of money from consumers using Internet banking, has raised alarm among consumers.
In one of the latest reported cases an MTN and ABSA customer lost R159,000 after she fell victim of SIM swap fraud.
To date, information about these scams has been sketchy, partly because of a lack of information from the banks and mobile operators.
However, Eddie Moyce, Chief Customer Experience Officer at MTN SA, has now provided valuable details about SIM swap banking scams.
MTN is disturbed by the current increase in fraudulent cases and working tirelessly with relevant authorities to clamp down the fraud.
Fraud on customers’ bank accounts has become very sophisticated. This fraud involves a fraudster obtaining a customer’s bank account/card number, the customer’s PIN and passwords.
We are not sure as to how fraudsters obtain this information but we understand that they also do so through phishing.
Phishing involves a process where fraudsters send e-mails to their targets creating the impression that the e-mail comes from the customers’ bank. In these e-mails unsuspecting customers are asked to update their personal details including bank account/card number, PIN and password.
Once a fraudster has these bank details he performs a fraudulent SIM-swap to be able to get bank notifications to the customer diverted to the fraudster.
It is important to note that a SIM-swap is a process provided by mobile network operators to their customers to enable the customers who have lost their cell phones to be issued with the cell phone numbers that were allocated to the SIM card that was in the lost cell phone.
Accordingly, a SIM-swap provides a customer with the convenience of retaining his/her cell phone number in the event where a customer has lost his/her cell phone or where the cell phone is stolen. This is a necessary service which mobile network operators provide to their customers.
MTN has put in place necessary security checks to validate authenticity of SIM-swaps.
Unfortunately, fraudsters have exploited this process to commit fraudulent SIM-swaps on customers. It is important to note that this is not the challenge that is faced by MTN alone but by the whole mobile telecommunications industry.
MTN, on its own and in conjunction with the SAPS, investigates fraudulent SIM-swaps that come into its attention.
MTN, further, works with other mobile network operators and various banks to develop strategies to fight this fraud.
MTN understands the importance of protecting its customers and continuously exploring means to beef its security systems in this regard.
Fraudsters sometimes find loop holes in systems and exploit them. This is not a problem unique to MTN nor to the mobile telecommunications industry. It is experienced by the banking industry, the insurance industry and many other industries.
We are therefore investigating every possible lead to protect our customers from this type of fraud.
No feedback from ABSA
ABSA was asked whether there are possibly insiders within the bank which assist fraudsters to gain access to their clients’ bank accounts, but the bank did not respond by the time of publication.
ABSA also did not provide feedback on what consumers can do to protect themselves against their accounts being cleared out by scammers.
More SIM swap fraud articles
How scammers hack your bank account
R159,000 stolen in MTN SIM swap scam
R97,000 SIM swap scam: MTN denies liability
Warning! SIM swap fraud on the rise
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