MTN South Africa has warned its customers of a new Sim swap scam that takes advantage of warning notices usually issued by the mobile operator via SMS.
“This is another attempt by malicious users to obtain the personal banking details of MTN customers,” it says.
The syndicate behind the scam sends an e-mail similar to the following:
Dear Client, We have discovered a suspected Sim swap attempt on your no. The swap will be processed within the next hour. If you did not initiate this Sim swap, please Cancel here.
The “cancel” link redirects the user to a site that requests their banking details, MTN says in a media statement. “Once supplied, the criminals can then use the information to make fraudulent transactions from the banking account.”
It says customers should note that it does not send any Sim swap warnings to its customers via e-mail. “Furthermore, customers must ignore any such emails and should report them to 083 123 7867.”
As an additional safeguard, MTN has blocked access to the site on its network, it says. — (c) 2014 NewsCentral Media