Giant mobile service provider Safaricom has announced new plans to curb the Sim swap scam.
According to CEO Bob Collymore, the firm will soon require customers to provide a thumbprint before they are allowed to replace their SIM cards.
Collymore affirmed that the network had introduced the new requirement to curb SIM card fraud that has become rampant.
He noted that current measures are working but the thumbprint feature would serve to discourage fraudsters as well as employees who facilitate fraud.
"We vet people quite carefully. It is only that some come in clean then become corrupted. We are looking at introducing biometrics for SIM swaps. Meanwhile, if you want to do SIMswaps and the line is active, we will send a message with a request and you will have to confirm the request for the swap," he stated.
On the other hand, Director of Corporate Affairs Stephen Chege, said that the prolonged registration process for a SIM replacement would curb the new SIM scam.
"If we bring in biometrics and someone tries social engineering, at some point they will be required to put in details like a thumbprint to prove if that is a genuine customer authorizingSIM swap," he said.
Chege noted that the firm was in its final stages of implementing the new measures.