This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
On August 4, 2020, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) issued a warning to Kenyans about a new wave of social engineering tricks used by sim swap/sim jacking fraudsters to steal from mobile money, loan apps, and bank accounts.
These tricks include sending texts in the same format, asking recipients to send money urgently, refund cash that has been 'accidentally received to your account', access mobile app loans, or get a shipment they never ordered.
Others come as messages asking recipients to form a relationship with the sender.
According to the CA, social engineering is an attack that manipulates people into breaking normal security procedures and best practices to gain access to systems, networks, or physical locations for financial gain or information.
This can be done through phishing, where victims are sent emails or texts drafted in a manner that creates some sense of urgency, curiosity, or fear.
It is also done through pre-texting, where the fraudster pretends to be in need of information so as to confirm the identity of the person he or she is talking to.
Some victims of sim swaps have accused mobile service providers of aiding the fraud.
A politician last year shared details of his accounts and mobile number with a call centre at his bank and ended up losing Sh1.9 million while in Israel.
