Police are holding a suspect who has been operating a high-tech mobile phone scam syndicate in the country. The suspect was arrested Friday and a gunny bag full of SIM cards belonging to Safaricom, Airtel and Telcom mobile service providers were recovered. According to police, the suspect had among others hacked into the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) database and acquired personal details of 61,617 registered voters from a county in western Kenya. The data, which was found in his possession, contains names of registered voters, their ID numbers and dates of birth. Using the fraudulently acquired personal details, the suspect along with others then contacted different wireless carriers and convinced the customer service agents that they are the true owners of the lines.

Source: The Star July 17, 2021 07:41 UTC