Caption: Incompetent Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore Hi Cyprian, I'm Hillary Sammy Wainaina Mburu. A Safaricom customer with Tel No. 0721388.
I am a victim of a scam that happened to me yesterday. I got a call from 0725672 at 12:42 pm. I quickly realised that this is one of the cons and I disconnected the call without sharing any information.
After the call, I go an SMS from Safaricom informing me that someone was trying to swap my number. I contacted Safaricom via Twitter and they assured me that my line was safe.
I then got several SMSs from Safaricom confirming what my PUK number is. I had not sent any requests to know my PUK. Happening concurrently, my line was topped up with Ksh 5.
I informed Safaricom of this, but they were confident that my line was safe.
In the evening at 7:25 pm, I got another SMS telling me my number is being swapped. I immediately contacted Safaricom. As I was engaging them on Twitter, my line went dead.
I called them immediately to have the line blocked which they did.
I was completely baffled and scared.
I know that a SIM swap cannot be done without:
- Myself being present at a Safaricom shop or an authorized agent,
- Without my ID card,
- Without my PIN,
- Without knowledge of my transactions details e.g last numbers called, last top up etc.
I have also registered my Voice with Safaricom.
So how was my line swapped despite me having alerted Safaricom that a swap was imminent?
How helpless is Safaricom that even with information that a fraud is about to happen, they cannot prevent it?
Are Safaricom Customers aware that scammers can now conduct a SIM swap without having any details personal details about the customer?
Is Safaricom as a company aware that scammers have this ability?
Is it an inside job?
The matter was logged under ticket number 1-15DOCTI0. And they say they will give feedback by 22/7/2018 07:53:31 PM. This means 1 week without before I know my fate with Safaricom.
I think that Kenyans need to know about this. With your previous dealing with Safaricom, I trust you will find this issue as very important and share with your followers on Twitter and Facebook.