How To Protect Your Phone From Sim Swap Fraudsters

The recent surge in the number of cases of sim swaps in the country has prompted Safaricom to come up with new measures to safeguard its customers from fraud.

Fraudsters have invented new ways of stealing from your phone without causing any form of alarm to the owner as witnessed by one police officer whose Mpesa and the bank account were swiped close to Ksh600,000.

Fraudsters are now going to the extent of registering an existing number on a new SIM card to intercept notifications, one-time passwords, online banking profiles, and transactions. All these happen without the owner noticing any malpractice on the phone.

To safeguard customers from fraudulent sim swaps, mobile services provider Safaricom has introduced a self-whitelisting service where one locks their number to ensure no one else can swap your sim card without your knowledge.

Pre-paid and post-pay customers with a Safaricom line can now self-whitelist their numbers by dialling *100*100#.

How To Avoid Sim Swap Fraud By Whitelisting

On your device, dial *100*100#
Whitelist your number
You will then receive a text message from the service provider confirming that you have whitelisted your number.

This is a service that ensures that a customer’s line/SIM card can only be replaced by visiting a Safaricom Shop or Care desk with your ID, or by calling Safaricom customer care.