As Kenyans continue to rely on mobile money for transactions, fraudsters (this time drivers pretending to be lost) have come up with new tactics to con unsuspecting members of the public.
One of the recent tricks used by the scammers involves a stranded motorist, the highway, and a citizen willing to help with directions.
According to some of the victims, the fraudsters pretend to be lost and need directions. They then approach several strangers posing as lost travelers.
Unknown to them, however, the fraudsters are scouting for their next victim.
Once a person decides to help out, they offer them a free ride as a token of appreciation. While in the car, the fraudsters then trick them.
The motorists are said to dress in the uniform of popular mobile service providers or companies, which is a leverage they use to gain the trust of the passenger.
During the free ride, they engage the passenger on how to fix any issue they may have with their sim cards as well as upgrade them.
Furthermore, the fraudsters promise to help their victims by hooking them in with scholarship programs offered by the companies whose uniforms they don.
In the process, they get the person’s sim card password among other personal information all under the pretense to help.
However, according to the victims, once they leave the car they realise the sim card is missing from their mobile phones which is then used to scam others on their contact list.
In addition, scammers use your personal details to access mobile loans before disposing of the sim card and leaving the owner with a huge debt.
“Mostly they are targeting senior citizens as most of them use their year of birth as their pin,” one person suggested.
Recently, another tactic was exposed where fraudsters target bank accounts, withdraw money and intentionally send them to random mobile money accounts registered in Kenya.
The victims are then called and asked to reverse the amount through the mobile money platform rather than through the bank.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE
