Why Sim card fraud still alarming in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. When pickpockets steal a phone, the worry is not only about the loss of the asset but also the possibility of fraud against people on the contact list.

Fraudulent practices using SIM cards, which include coining, theft through mobile money and banks, and others, have never stopped, even as mobile network operators are enrolling subscribers using biometric registration.

Tanzania recorded a total of 12,613 fraudulent practices using SIM cards from October 2022 to the end of last December.

However, most of these incidents are in Rukwa, which accounts for almost half of the cases, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

TCRA’s report for the period from October to the end of December 2022 indicates that Rukwa accounted for 46 percent of the cases, followed by Morogoro with 25 percent and Dar es Salaam, which accounted for 13 percent.

The regions of Mwanza, Kagera, Arusha, Katavi, and Kilimanjaro committed a combined fraud rate of one percent, while regions such as Tabora, Dodoma, Coast, Kigoma, Songwe, Iringa, Shinyanga, Mara, Singida, Tanza, Geta, Ruvuma, Njombe, Manyara, Mtwara, Lindi, and Simiyu committed a combined fraud rate of less than one percent.

Zanzibar also recorded fraudulent practices of less than one percent committed by users of telecommunication services. Speaking to The Citizen, TCRA director general Dr. Jabiri Bakari said such statistics are provided to show what is happening in the market.

“That will help each stakeholder know what they need to do in challenging areas,” he said.

According to him, the regions that have seen a high number of SIM card-related frauds mean that the operators did not do their job properly in the registration process.

He added that the regulator has already issued instructions to the operators on what to do.

Some mobile subscribers blame the practice in which a SIM card number is given to another person after remaining idle for only three months. If the SIM card stays for 90 days without any communication, the operator has the power to cancel it and sell it to another person with a new registration.

“I get a lot of disturbing calls from people who are looking for someone else. They claim that it’s her number while it has my registration,” said Aisha Abdullah, a resident of Dar es Salaam.

“I think it’s better to cancel the idle number forever instead of allowing someone else to use it after three months,” she said.

“If I were a thief, I would have used the opportunity to fraud these people who call,” she added.

Dr. Bakari said fraud cases were partly rampant due to people having more than two SIM cards without using them.

“If you feel that you cannot own more than one SIM card, there is no need to have them,” he said.

A resident of Kinondoni, Ms. Neema Mshukuru, asked the regulator to find a lasting solution to fraudulent practices.