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Key SIM swap fraud suspect held

Cape Town - MTN's forensic services team joined the Wierdabrug police in Centurion in a sting operation that led to the arrest of a suspected key player in a recent spate of SIM swap fraud, a report said.

A SIM swap allows mobile network operators to issue customers who have lost their phones with new SIM cards, but port the same number.

Fin24 recently reported how Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman fell victim to a SIM swap syndicate when she was robbed out of R360 000.

This prompted a wave of response from Fin24 readers who had also been conned by SIM swap fraudsters.

“MTN’s forensic team and Centurion’s Wierdaburg police have made great strides in the tracking and monitoring the suspect’s activities. A special team has been tasked with initiating security measures to protect MTN customers such as an improved authentication process when carrying out a SIM swap.

"This delays the SIM swap until the legitimate customer has confirmed the request via SMS. We continue to find and implement security controls to eliminate fraud using cell phones," Lilly Zondo, General Manager Business Risk told Gadget.

MTN claims the matter is sub judice and as a result cannot provide further information pertaining to the case.

The operator said it was “not certain” how customers’ information was being compromised by SIM swap fraudsters but believes that it can be done through phishing or when a customer’s personal documents such as ID documents are compromised.

“Protecting our customers means tightening up on our systems development to both improve security and service delivery,” Zondo said.





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