Explained: Beautiful Kenyan hacker breaks down how fraudsters are able to call through Safaricom's official number

This week, a social media user shockingly revealed that fraudsters had now found a way of calling their victims disguised as official Safaricom customer care agents. Following the tweet that quickly went viral, multiple Kenyans came out to confirm the claims. Over a period of time, many continued to give an account of their own experiences with the ever upgrading conmen. The discussion would soon spur a debate as various “tech experts” argued on how such a massive breach could possibly be pulled off. This went on late into the night. This endless debate that went on through the night prompted a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate to piece together a thread educating Kenyans on the newest con game in town. The female hacker who doesn’t shy away from publicly flaunting her coding prowess broke down the entire concept of Caller ID Spoofing – 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. Read the series of tweets below.

Today I want to educate Kenyans on the new Safaricom ccon game on the Kenyan market. They say knowledge is important only when shared. A thread. pic.twitter.com/jZanzMK1Jb

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

The new con is when an individual receives a call from a Safaricom number, 0722000000 and a little manipulation, He/She due to trust ends up giving out their personal information, and the rest is history…

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

The con game as it’s technically known is, Caller ID spoofing. Caller ID spoofing is the process of changing the caller ID to any number other than the calling number. When a phone receives a call, the caller ID is transmitted between the first and second ring of the phone.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

To transmit the caller ID, we use a technique called Frequency Shift Keying, which transmits the caller ID in a binary format. It is possible, during this part of the call, to transmit the caller ID we want instead of the true number.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

There are many free apps readily available in the market that people can easily get or with as little as Ksh. 500 download and access added futures such as, background music, voice change and many more.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

One such app is pic.twitter.com/me9u9UR8fv

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

Another one is pic.twitter.com/Ii4QWbdAmR

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

In all this, most of the telecommunications kind of con game is done by insiders, its the people who understand the system that can manipulate it, from outside all you can do is test the capabilities of the system.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

You can change the voice of the caller depending on the app.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

True, but this insight is not a widely shared concept to many people.

— Pauline. (@kot_hacker) January 7, 2020

Here are some more reactions from Kenyans.

All I can say from this.. Kenyans are ignorant why would you disclose your info to some1 that you don’t know.. Ask to call back.. Secondly spoofing can be done by anyone ata mtu ako kwa nyumba… Will ask you to go check on youtube online conning in ke

— Peter Drury Voice (@kaisarikevin2) January 7, 2020

This con usually call when one is busy! And therefore not having second guesses on the Congo! Like my pal was conned when he was on the road with the bull he was taking for mating services! And just like that his 25k was gone!

— Kenny Ken (@ken_kenniest) January 7, 2020

I stopped picking calls from that Number. If i got any issues i better sort them out via their Social Media pages. Even when they call me i dont pick.

— Martin Kettienya (@martinkellmen) January 7, 2020

Social engineering…let us stop thinking that the average thief is stupid and violent. On the contrary, they are smart, kind and calculative

— George Owiso (@owisoke) January 7, 2020

I suggest to anyone who receives a call from this number to hang up and call Safaricom Customer Care to confirm what the person on the other line was telling you.

— Ndzocchini?? (@GacukiMwas) January 7, 2020

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