SIM Swap Fraud Hits South Africa

By PYMNTS | May 28, 2013

MTN, a South African mobile operator, announced a new collaboration with ABSA to create a team that will aim to fight the growing number of “SIM Swap” fraud cases in South Africa, reports The Next Web.

SIM swap fraud occurs when a customer gives away mobile or online banking details in response to a phishing-email. Once that hacker has the customer information, they can use this to request a new SIM card and cancel the old account. Hackers are then given a new PIN that allows them to make payments from the bank account.

Both ABSA and MTN customers have been affected by SIM swap scams. The organizations’ executives called an emergency meeting to discuss solutions, and came up with the idea of designing the task team. The team will begin by launching an enhanced authentication process to protect customers.

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