Martin Effiong is a Senior Operator Partnership Manager for Infobip in Anglophone West Africa. He is a seasoned IT Professional driven to achieve excellence with a flair for VAS, SaaS and CPaaS Product design, architecture and monetization, with a profound interest in IoT.
In this interview, he talked about identity fraud which has increased significantly in recent years, with scammers taking advantage of the growing amount of personal information available on digital platforms to obtain goods or services in the victim’s name.
According to Evina, a French cybersecurity firm with a presence in more than 70 countries worldwide – including 15 in Africa – in a recent report titled State of Mobile Fraud in Africa, shows that professional cybercriminals targeting Africa’s one billion mobile phone users continue to be a significant problem.
The necessary data can be obtained in a variety of ways, ranging from breaches of customer databases to simply analyzing social media profiles. SIM swapping is a particularly sophisticated method that has emerged, in which criminals can trick their way into gaining access to the victim’s SIM card, allowing them to receive calls and SMS messages, leading to disastrous consequences such as account takeovers.
The truth is that identity fraud can suddenly and violently turn your life upside down. In some cases, it can send your credit score plummeting and, depending on the type and extent of the fraud, it…
