In wake of recent fraud activities which lead to fraudsters getting access to one’s sim card details, Safaricom has introduced a new method which on activating you can only replace your Simcard at a Safaricom shop or by dialing 100. This is well detailed on the Safaricom FAQ page.
One of the ways someone can have access to your Simcard is by having your ID number and partnering with various M-Pesa agents to help initiate a sim replacement. After that, it is only a matter of changing the pin number of your M-Pesa account and transacting using it. In the previous days, people have reported such cases and some to an extent of fraudsters borrowing cash from the contact list.
To prevent this from happening, a simple method is by dialing *100*100# on your Safaricom Simcard which blocks your Simcard from ever getting replaced at a Mpesa Agent. Safaricom also has this feature in which whenever your Simcard is getting replaced you receive a prompt to confirm. That is if your Simcard is still active. When receiving such a prompt and you have not initiated such an action kindly do not accept and call Safaricom immediately. DO NOTE THAT SAFARICOM ONLY CALLS YOU VIA 0722000000
Other ways to protect some of this confidential information is by
- Check out for spam/con flagged calls
- Using different Pin codes for every account you have
- Changing your password and pins regularly
- Checking the status of your passwords via Google
- Avoiding simples password and pins like your birthday, or numbers that follow each other e.g. 1111
- Avoid public WiFi. When using Public WiFi, someone can easily get access to your phone and mine and access enough data including bank detail
- Always activate 2-factor authentication for your bank account. This makes sure when you are login-in a code is sent to your phone for confirmation.
There are other ways to protect yourself online which you can find here.
