This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
On January 7, 2020, a social media user revealed that fraudsters had found a way to call their victims disguised as official Safaricom customer care agents, sparking a debate among tech experts.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, Pauline, a Kenyan hacker and coding expert, took to Twitter to educate Kenyans on the new con game in town, explaining the concept of Caller ID Spoofing.
Caller ID Spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station.
Pauline explained that the con game involves using a technique called Frequency Shift Keying to transmit the caller ID in a binary format, allowing fraudsters to change the caller ID to any number other than the true calling number.
She also revealed that there are free apps available in the market that people can download and access additional features such as background music and voice change, which can be used to manipulate the caller ID.
Pauline emphasized that the con game is not just limited to Safaricom's official number, but can be done by anyone with the right knowledge and tools.
She advised Kenyans to be cautious and not to disclose their personal information to unknown callers, and to instead ask to call back or hang up and call Safaricom Customer Care to confirm the information.
