Anti Fraud SIM Card
Mobile carrier Vodacom has recently launched a new anti fraud feature which locks a SIM card if there is irregular call activity detected. The new security feature is designed to protect customers from increasing mobile phone fraud by automatically locking the SIM card. The number of fraud incidents which are due to International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF) has been on the increase.
This type of scam involves stolen SIM cards or handsets which are used by a syndicate to dial international toll numbers, resulting in bills up to R120,000 for victims. These incidents have recently increased to more than 20 per month as it became clear that the traditional security features like limit-lock were ineffective against this type of fraud. The new security measures implemented by Vodacom resemble those used by major credit card companies to detect and pre-empt fraud.