By Khalifa Hemed
Published January 1, 2021
The emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic in Kenya in March 2020 did not only bring about extraordinary levels of disruption in the social and economic sectors but also led to the wider adoption of a digital lifestyle that, in turn, spawned a high number of fraudsters ready to cash in on the trend of people paying for goods, services or matatu rides via their mobile phones in the hope of keeping safe.
The adoption of cashless lifestyle and emergence of fraudsters forced providers of financial services by mobile telephony to issue cautionary statements, announcements and advertisement via television, radio, print, social media and short text messages to sensitise their customers on the need to be vigilant and never drop their guard while transacting online or via phone.
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Equity Bank, that offers all sorts of services not restricted to banking, was the first one to launch a special call number it says it uses and that anyone using any other number is unlikely to be a representative of Equity Bank.
“Equity Bank only calls you only on 0763 000 000 beware of fraudsters!” the bank said in various media messages as complaints soared that its customers were losing their money to fraudsters masquerading as staffers of the institution.
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“Safaricom calls you only from 0722 000 000,” Safaricom PLC that operates the ever popular M-Pesa mobile money service announced.
“Airtel calls you only from 0733-100 000,” Airtel Money’s Airtel Kenya chimed in.”Kaa chonjo.”
There is hardly anyone with a mobile phone in Kenya who doesn’t or hasn’t received any of the following text messages:
- “You get communication to validate 430570” sent from 0781400170 to Equity Bank custome
- “Your ACCOUNT has been Deactivated For more information contact 0784000635within 2hrs for your ACCOUNT activation.”
- “Dear customer: Your account has been (Suspended). Contact 0786616018Kcb Bank within 24hrs: thank you” sent via 0774269296
- “Dear customer, Your account has been closed due to non-activity. For more details visit the nearest branch or call 0711074074” sent to Faulu Kenya customers.
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“Do not dial any short code when someone claiming from Airtel calls you.Airtel will only call you from 0733-100-000. Kaa chonjo’, Airtel cautions its customers in Kenya.”For any promotions by Airtel, you will only be called by the number 0733-100-000. Stay alert! Do not respond to any call from any number on Airtel promotions.”
“The pandemic has brought about extraordinary disruptions in the social economic environment not just in our country but also globally. Similarly, we have witnessed changes in fraud trends and as we enter the festive period, we are likely to see fraudsters becoming more sophisticated and aggressive. This calls on all of us to remain alert and vigilant,” Amalgamated Bank of South Africa (ABSA) that took over the business of Barclays Bank across Africa, says.
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The financial institution that trades as Absa Bank Kenya Plc in Kenya, says, “At Absa, we have zero tolerance to fraud and we have put in place a robust prevention, detection and consequence management framework to protect all our customers. We are however cognisant of the constantly evolving efforts by fraudsters which may put you at risk.”
To help its customers in Kenya to safeguard their transactions, ABSA advises them to take note that:
- We will never ask you for your PIN, password, app pass code, login details or card CVV number. DO NOT share this information with anyone as it exposes you to fraud
- Should you misplace your card or suspect that it has been stolen, please do not wait. report this immediately and have it blocked by calling us on 0722 130 120 or 0732 130 120.
- While we encourage you to transact digitally, be careful of what you share on social media and when shopping online
- Always keep your phone safe and secure, never save confidential banking information on your phone.
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This comes at a time when Kaspersky cybersecurity company reported in September 2020 that Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria had by then seen 28 million malware Attacks in just nine months.
