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A Mobile Money Loop Hole Unlikely but Possible

Introduction

Happy new year and welcome back to iTechBookPages brand new post. And what a way to start my blogging this year, we be tackling an issue which has been baffling me for a while and now I have decided to share it. Its about mobile money industry which as you are aware is catching up with every Kenyan's daily life.

 Here in Kenya currently we have Safaricom MPESA product as the main player in the Kenyan industry, which i too appreciate its convenience in my day to day operations, be it paying bills, sending money and all possible options which were not there before. There is a lot to thank for the realization of the mobile money but as well there are loop holes which can lead to Telemarketing fraud. I will address  possible Telemarketing fraud in this post which i have not yet heard a case about but i think it can be exploited and wreak havoc to unsuspecting mobile money consumers.

How it can happen

In as much as we register our SIM (Subscriber identification module) cards, a protection layer needs to be added in this process to avoid users being exposed to fraudsters. The registration process only requires one to have an original of thier National Identification Card now think of when you lose your National ID and simply replace the ID thanks to our faster process now here in Kenya, there are two possibilities which can happen to your lost Identification Card:-
  1.  The Identification card is lost for good and never lands into a fraudster.
  2.  The Identification card by chance falls in the hands of a fraudster.


 Of the two options, option 1 is safe but option 2 is damn likely to cause you financial harm, considering your mobile money loan applications rely on sole Sim card registration with a valid National Identification Card. I remember after graduating from High School I used my uncle's National Identification Card to register my Sim card, this is how simple it can be for a stranger to buy a new Sim card and register it without any worry provided they have an original Identification card, because in case of any confirmations by the mobile money agent one can claim its their relative's and in this case most of the time very few mobile money agents conducts the process of National ID confirmation.

 After acquiring your SIM registration now you are free to consume mobile money services, the likes of Borrowing Loans, Transfer money, Pay bills et cetera. 

Possible Telemarketing fraud Loop Hole

In the case now a fraudster has acquired SIM registration with your lost National Identification Card, (s)he is fully qualified to enjoy the mobile money services. The major loop hole i have come to discover here in Kenya is the Loans Service whereby one can borrow money so easily by simply having a registered SIM card, that's all. Therefore in this scenario picture all the possibilities a fraudster has for any lost National ID card by unsuspecting consumers in their hands. Mmmmhhhh! i can only imagine. 

 This is just a wake up call to our Mobile money operators and CCK to take action and add a better layer of consumer protection on top of National Identification Card.

Recommendation


  1. Limit Sim card registration to one per a National Identification Card.
  2. Come up with a validation formula for users who need more than one sim registration to an already registered National Identification Card.

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