NCC to checkmate SIM swap fraud

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that the commission has put in place a regulation to checkmate SIM Swap fraud.

Head of Zonal Operations, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ms. Helen Obi, made this disclosure in a recent interview in Jos, stressing that a SIM is a smart card inside a mobile phone, carrying identification number unique to the owner, while SIM Swap is the process of replacing your existing SIM with a new SIM and moving your existing number, data etc. to a new SIM.

Obi affirmed that the new regulation put in place to stop SIM Swap fraud was in the interest of customers, adding that SIM SWAP fraud has a lot of issues attached to it because you find a lot of people who are not the owners of these numbers going to do SIM SWAP at various centres nationwide.

She sasid,“We have cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank account as a result of SIM SWAP and they complain to the commission expecting that the commission would compensate them.

“We have now put a regulation in place advising these operators to demand for certain requirements and criteria before allowing SIM swapped.

The Head of Zonal Operations, NCC pointed out that anybody coming for SIM Swap must prove that the number that was been requested to be swapped belonged to him/her, stressing that once that is done, there would be no complain and the operators would not be left in doubt.

“So it is all in the interest of consumers that we are doing this because of the complaints, especially the one that has to do with fraudulent activities on the consumer’s bank account.

“What we as a regulatory authority keep advising and encouraging our consumers to do is that they should also help the commission to serve them better by following laid down rules.

“Some subscribers said that Network providers were putting them through stress to have a SIM replaced.

“They said that they were being asked to bring court affidavit, national identification card, SIM pack amongst other requirements,” she said.

However, Mrs Ola Adedeji, an ICT expert, commended the Commission on the idea of asking subscribers to identify themselves properly before replacing lost SIM.

Adedeji noted that subscribers were not adequately informed about the new development by network providers; hence they are facing some challenges.

“It is okay to ask a subscriber, who lost a SIM card and want a replacement, to properly identify himself or herself before a re-issue.

“But my problem with the network providers is that they should educate customers properly so as to enable us prepare ourselves before coming for replacement,” she added.

Some of the subscribers’ complaints stem from the stress of retrieving a misplaced SIM as network providers asked them to bring so many things, to swear affidavit because one did not get his SIM pack.

They urged the NCC and network providers to embark on serious sensitisation campaigns to properly educate subscribers on the need to provide the items for proper identification when they want to do SIM Swap.

Tony Nwakaegho