Safaricom, in partnership with 6 local banks, has developed a solution to the rampant cases of SIM swap and ATM fraud.
Dubbed The SIM-Swap-Check, the anti-fraud service will enable banks to find out when a customer’s SIM card was last swapped.
This means the bank can make a decision on the likelihood of a customer’s transaction being fraudulent and additional steps to be applied.
The service will be available to lenders through an Application Programming Interface (API) through which banks can query when a customer’s SIM card was last swapped.
Safaricom on Thursday said the service was developed following an analysis of fraud reports to tackle social engineering of customers to conduct fraudulent SIM swaps.
“The rapid growth of Kenya’s fintech sector has been accompanied by a rapidly evolving threat environment targeting both customers and fintech operators. It is therefore necessary for different players to partner around innovations that protect customers and their funds to safeguard the gains made,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
To tackle ATM fraud, Safaricom said it is providing banks with an ATM Vicinity Check solution that ensures an ATM withdrawal can only be conducted if the transacting customer is in the same location as the ATM.
“At Safaricom, we have developed SIM-Swap-Check and ATM Vicinity Check solutions that we have made available to banks to empower them to reduce fraudulent transactions,” Ndegwa said.
The ATM Vicinity Check solution will be offered for free.
