Zambia’s regulator has claimed to have blocked over two million illegal SIM cards, a move that is part of plans to clamp down on illegal activities prevailing as citizens take up digital financial services.
Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) consumer protection and compliance manager Edgar Mlauzi, said the SIMs belonged to those who had more than ten SIM cards under their name, which the authority deemed fraudulent, reported ITWeb.
Mlauzi said since blocking the two million SIMs spam traffic had decreased but did not specify any numbers.
“The authority has received a number of complaints from people who have been defrauded but ZICTA is doing everything possible to address the situation. Scammers send unsolicited messages to members of the public using the SMS platform by using fraudulently registered SIM cards which compromises the safety of others users of electronic communication services,” said Mlauzi.
The regulator announced it had to take action to combat mobile money fraud by going after subscribers who do not have a justifiable cause to possess an expansive number of SIMs.
ZICTA has stated Zambians are increasing their use of digital financial services with mobile money transactions increasing in value to ZMW105.6 billion (US$5.8bn) in 2020, from ZMW49.6 billion in 2019.
