By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has explained why it made the process of replacing stolen, damaged or lost Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card more stringent.
The Commission’s Director, Zonal Operations, Amina Shehu, said in a statement on Sunday that before replacing a SIM card, subscribers are required to submit court Affidavit, National Identity card, any valid identity document and SIM pack among other things.
According to her, the move is to prevent identity theft, whereby fraudsters replace other peoples SIM cards for fraudulent purposes.
She said the process was reviewed and made more stringent to ensure that telecom subscribers are well protected from being victims of SIM swap fraud.
“There have been cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank accounts, as a result of SIM swap and the victims often complain to the commission, expecting that NCC will compensate them.
“To stop this SIM swap fraud, the commission in 2017 developed guidelines on SIM replacement, which sets water-tight rules for telecoms consumers to replace their SIM card when there is a need for it,” she said.
Shehu said that the regulatory body has noted that there is likelihood by subscribers to think that network providers are putting them through stress to have their SIM replaced.
“But what telecoms consumers should know is that they must appreciate the fact that information being required from them is to establish that anybody coming for SIM swap proves that the number requested to be swapped belongs to him/her.
“Consumers should immediately report to their respective banks to block their accounts, once they lose SIMs linked with their bank accounts,” she said.
The director said the commission has other initiatives aimed at protecting the consumers, which include the activation of the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code to curb unsolicited text messages.
She said with NCC’s toll-free line 622, consumers can report complains pertaining to unresolved issues with service providers to the commission.
Shehu said with 622, subscribers can report quality of service, billing issues, mobile number portability as well as issues revolving around data descriptions and renewals.
