By BRIAN HATYOKA –
IT is undisputable that access to Internet has lately increased in Zambia and other countries globally.
This is due to a number of factors, such as digital transformation and coronavirus (COVID-19) public health prevention measures which encourages the usage of online transactions to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.
However, the prevailing situation has bought about increasing reports of unfair, misleading and fraudulent commercial practices online.
These include financial scams and the promotion of unsafe or counterfeit products, among others.
So far, many people have complained of being swindled of their hard earned money through online scams.
Chiluba Kaite, a resident of Lusaka’s Kamwala South Township, was recently swindled out of about K500 from his mobile money account.
The swindler misled Mr Kaite to believe that he had wrongly sent some money and needed his money back.
In the process of acting on the said instructions, Mr Kaite’s phone recorded a zero balance from his initial K50o in his mobile money account.
Mr Kaite informed his mobile phone service provider and he was told to report the matter to the police, which he did.
But he could still not recover his money.
Similarly, an alleged scammer called the author last week on a similar mission but his trickery efforts hit a snag.
The alert author received the following text message below from the same caller’s phone number before receiving a phone call:
‘Dear Customer, you have received ZMW 350.00 from 972166112 MWANDU COSTA. Dial *778# to check your new balance. Txn ID: PP220107.0843.J42106.’
This text signaled the fact that the sender was a trickster as the message did not come from the mobile phone service provider.
The caller, who was seemingly male, going by the voice, claimed that he mistakenly sent K350 to the author’s phone and requested that the money should be sent back to the same number.
“I was trying to send money to my mother who is attending a funeral in Lundazi district in Eastern Province and in the process, I sent you K350 by mistake. Kindly send me back K300 and keep K50 for your talk time,” the caller said.
The charlatan was told to call after five minutes to finalise the deal but the author used the said time to alert the Zambia Police, Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) and Airtel Zambia on the suspicious call.
When the determined fraudster called after five minutes, the author told him to stop swindling people.
The swindler responded with unprintable messages before cutting the phone call. Thereafter, a complaint was lodged with ZICTA.
Airtel Networks Zambia Head of Corporate Communications Yuyo Nachali-Kambikambi said the company has noted an increase in the number of Short Message Service (SMS) scams which are typical of the festive season and the early months of a new year in general.
Ms Kambikambi said in a response to a press query that on-line scams are a feature the world over and it is important that service providers, customers, regulators and law enforcement work together to mitigate the vice.
She said Airtel, in conjunction with regulators of mobile serviced providers, has continued to educate its customers through the company’s various channels, like SMS and social media handles on any emerging fraud type.
“We believe that because of these interventions, we have a more enlightened customer base in as far as not falling victim to these scams is concerned,” she said.
While Airtel has observed many reported attempts of scams, Ms Kambikambi said the company does not see a corresponding number in victims which is a positive indicator of the interventions undertaken.
She said the industry in general still has a lot to do to mitigate such scam.
According to Ms Kambikambi, some of the challenges involved are:
a) Customers performing registrations on behalf of third parties;
b) The absence of access to the national registration data base against which identification details can be verified prior to on-boarding;
c) Desire for customers to redeem prizes for promotions which they have not entered.
In the meantime, Ms Kambikambi emphasised the following interventions for customers:
- Do not send money via mobile money to any numbers unknown to you;
- Immediately report any suspicious numbers to Airtel call centre and any nearest police station or police post;
- Always keep your personal information confidential. This may include details such as date of birth, Personal Identification Number (PIN), account balance, among others;
- Keep details of your National Registration Card (NRC) and other identity documents safe to avoid them being used for fraud;
- Regularly dial *101# to check numbers registered under your name and identity (ID);
- Your mobile money wallet is PIN protected and very secure. The only time funds can leave your wallet is through use of the PIN.
“We wish to thank our customers for the immense support we have seen during this period wherein we have seen them expose these fraudsters through social media platforms and have also been our goodwill ambassadors,” Ms Kambikambi said.
Acting ZICTA Corporate Communication Manager Hanford Chaaba advised consumers of mobile service providers to avoid responding or replying to scam messages but forward the same to the authority for investigations.
Mr Chaaba said in a press statement that the public must report anyone selling or being in possession of fraudulently registered SIM cards to law enforcement agencies or to ZICTA on 7070 for possible deactivation.
“The authority wishes to remind consumers that failure to check and confirm the SIM cards registered against your ID on a regular basis puts you at risk of identity theft, which may have far reaching consequences especially when the SIM card is used for criminal activities,” he said.
Consumers are further advised to desist from purchasing and using already registered SIM cards as doing so is against the law.
Anyone found wanting risks being prosecuted.
In 2019, ZICTA issued SIM card directives in line with the ICT (Registration of Electronic Communications Apparatus) Regulations, Statutory Instrument (SI) No 65 of 2011, to mitigate the fraud that is associated with SIM registration.
However, the authority is concerned that despite the directives, there:
(a) is minimum adherence to the directives by the mobile network operators (MNOs) and the sellers of SIM cards;
(b) is a rampant possession and use of fraudulently registered or pre-registered SIM cards by members of the public. Some consumers use SIM cards that are not registered in their personal details; and
(c) are scammers sending unsolicited messages to members of the public using the SMS platform by using fraudulently registered SIM cards, a situation which compromises the safety of other users of electronic communication services.
Mr Chaaba said the purchase and use of a pre-registered SIM card is prohibited.
In that regard, ZICTA has identified SIM cards that are suspected to have been fraudulently registered or registered in violation of SI 65 and the SIM card directives.
He said the authority would commence the process of deactivating the non-compliant and fraudulently registered SIM cards.
The public has been advised to regularise their SIM card registration status by visiting their nearest service centres with their valid identification cards (ID) or use respective USSDs/applications within seven days from January 24, 2022.
Mr Chaaba said consumers, who will not regularise their SIM card registration within the said period, risk having their SIM cards deactivated by the authority.
In the same vein, ZICTA has encouraged consumers to regularly check and confirm the number of SIM cards that are registered against their identity cards by dialling *101# and report all unidentified SIM cards to their respective MNOs or to the authority.
This is meant to prevent their details from being used by unscrupulous individuals to register SIM cards without their knowledge and consent.
Responding to a press query, Bloggers of Zambia Chief Executive Officer Richard Mulonga said there is need to enhance education and awareness on cyber security, safety and hygiene in Zambia.
According to Mr Mulonga, this must take a multi-stakeholder approach targeting vulnerable groups such as women and girls, as well as rural and peri-urban communities where levels of awareness are low.
“We are calling for partnership between ZICTA, civil society and service providers to escalate this awareness and education. According to ZICTA statistics, access to Internet in Zambia is growing rapidly because of the digital transformation going on, coupled with the COVID-19 health regulations of social distancing and digital interaction,” Mr Mulonga said.
He appealed to service providers and owners of applications and all digital platforms they use to offer their services to ensure that such platforms are safe and secure enough to minimise intrusion of privacy.
Mr Mulonga said there is need to secure digital assets, such as those in the financial technology, including mobile money technology that has become popular and convenient for millions of Zambians.
“Further, we would like to call upon ZICTA to make service providers transparent and accountable in safeguarding public interest by fairly and resiliently enforcing their laws and regulations,” he said.
Mr Mulonga said the Zambia Police Service also has a role to play in both education and awareness raising and enforcing relevant laws in a fair, resilient and human rights based approach in order to minimise and curtail the criminal activities being perpetrated online.
He further said it is the responsibility of every Internet user to ensure their safety and security when accessing online services by adhering to basic protocols.
These include locking devices and securing passwords or codes, verifying any online request for transactions, among others.
ZICTA, the police, mobile phone service providers and other stakeholders can do their part to stop the scams.
But such efforts will be fruitless and meaningless if Internet or mobile phone users are not taking care of their own safety.
Every citizen must be alert and security conscious.
