Sim card fraud rampant despite efforts to curb it

Dar es Salaam. Frauds involving Sim cards are still raising concerns despite the efforts of both the regulator and mobile network operators to fight the vice.

The government introduced biometric Sim card registration to identify subscribers, but the practices are still prevalent across the country.

According to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) quarterly report for the three months to March 2023, a total of 12,044, fraud incidences were recorded, compared to 12,603 cases reported between October and December last year.

According to the regulator, Tigo is leading in fraudulent practices, accounting for 34 percent of all fraud incidences.

Airtel follows closely with 32 percent, while Vodacom accounts for 28 percent and TTCL holds three percent.

In terms of geographical occurrences, the Rukwa region is still leading, accounting for 45 percent of all incidences, followed by Morogoro with 18 percent, Dar es Salaam with 14 percent, and Mbeya with seven percent.

According to the TCRA report, on fraud practices, statistics show that the regions of Mwanza and Arusha, Dodoma, Pwani, and Kagera committed fraudulent practices of 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, while the rest of the regions committed fraudulent practices of less than 1 percent.

Speaking to The Citizen, TCRA director of industrial affairs Dr Emmanuel Manasseh said some people lack understanding and allow registration of other people’s Sim cards using their identification.

“They don’t know the Sim cards can be used for crimes. This report has shown that there is a problem, and therefore everyone should be careful with these fraudsters,” he said.

Dr Manasseh added that the authority will soon come up with a procedure to deal with people who have used their IDs to register other people’s Sim cards to ensure that these challenges end or decrease.

“Fraud is not necessarily about stealing money, but there are those who use mobile networks to insult others or give them threats, all of which are crimes. Our job is to show the level of fraud, and then the police force is the one with the authority to deal with those issues and explain the kind of fraud and how they deal with it,” he insisted.

He added that as the world is changing, fraudsters are also coping with the changes. He asked everyone to take adequate precautions, adding that the authority will continue to provide education to the public.

Telcos react

Commenting on the frauds, Tigo acting marketing director Ms Edwardina Mgendi said the firm has a “robust” process of onboarding the agents involved in Sim card registration in line with set regulations.

“While we understand that a few agents are involved in fraudulent activities, through our continuous analytics, once identified, appropriate actions are taken, which include terminating their services permanently,” she said.

Ms Mgendi added that the suspicious agents’ numbers are shared with other operators to ensure that the suspension is happening across all operators.

According to her, Tigo is working closely with the regulator to ensure that legal actions are taken against those involved in fraudulent activities.

“It’s worth noting that, once all the procedures have been adhered to during registration, neither the agent nor the MNO has control over how individual customers use their Sim cards. However, efforts are being invested in educating customers to identify fraud, and report fraud incidents to TCRA,” she added.

“Tigo is committed to enhancing our Sim card registration process to ensure fraud rates are minimised to the lowest level, if not eliminated,” she insisted.

When The Citizen reached Vodacom Tanzania PLC, the head of public relations and communications, Ms Annette Kanora, declined to comment on the matter.

“No comments,” she said.

On the other hand, Airtel Tanzania public relations manager Mr Jackson Mmbando said, “We have seen the report on our side. We are working on it to be able to identify those areas that cause fraud so that we can work on them and continue to provide good services to our customers.” Commenting on the report, a telecom expert from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Dr Moses Ismail, said the report does not provide clarity on fraud statistics, especially on the types of fraud.