Telecommunications firm Safaricom has unveiled a code that will block your sim card from being replaced. The Safaricom code comes as cases of sim swap rise, leading to mobile users losing millions of money from their mobile money accounts and bank accounts.
According to Safaricom, you can now be able to block sim swap by dialing *100*100# on your Safaricom line.
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Once you dial this number, it will not be possible for your line to be replaced at an M-Pesa agent. Any replacement will have to be done directly at a Safaricom Customer Care centre.
Cases of sim swapping have been on the rise over the recent few weeks. Last week, a senior police officer based in Nairobi narrated how he lost Sh. 600,000 within hours after his mobile line was swapped.
Between February 7 and February 9, another victim of sim swapping lost Sh. 2.6 million. Farah Bashir, a medical laboratory scientist, said that he received an alert informing him that he had requested a Sim Card swap request, which he could ignore if he did not initiate it. He tried to access his M-Pesa in vain. Already, his sim card had been swapped.
He then decided to check his bank balance, but he ran into trouble when his fingerprint lock was rejected while attempting to access the Absa Bank app.
He tried to log in using his laptop, which was successful, but he could not believe his eyes. Bashir says a withdrawal of Sh.150,000 had already been made from his Kenyan currency account. Another Sh.150,000 disappeared. The account was left with Sh.35,000.
His dollar currency account which had $17,451 (Sh. 2 million) then followed, where his money was withdrawn in 10 quotas. His Sterling pound account, which had Sh. 231,000 in it, was then emptied.
With the new code, though, criminals will not be able to initiate a sim swap request from rogue agents as has been been happening.