CA Raises Alarm On Conmen Calling, Threatening Kenyans

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has announced a crackdown on suspicious individuals defrauding members of the public by threatening them over the phone.

In a statement on Tuesday, November 6, CA revealed that the individuals claim to be assisting Kenyans in accessing the services they may be seeking from the Authority.

Furthermore, they also call innocent mobile phone consumers and threaten them after accusing them of not registering their SIM cards.

"It has come to our attention that some unscrupulous individuals are defrauding unsuspecting members of the public and prospective license applicants, purporting to assist them in accessing the services of the Authority," stated CA in part.

"Con artists have also been calling unsuspecting consumers, threatening unspecified consequences for non-registration of SIM cards."

CA reminded the general public that the Authority is available and accessible to anyone who wishes to engage with them.

"At the same time, our website www.ca.go.ke contains information on the various regulated services and associated fees. We call on the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious individuals masquerading as CA staff, for necessary action," added the authority

Additionally, CA urged the public and stakeholders to only use the official communication channels of the Authority in case of need to access its services.

"All official communication to the Authority should be channelled through [email protected] or our regional offices in Mombasa, Eldoret, Nyeri and Kisumu," added the authority.

This is notably not the first case of scammers targeting Kenyans via phone which has become rampant countrywide, with suspects linked to the conning racket ending up in prison.

CA on Friday, May 19 warned Kenyans against the resurgence of the infamous "Wangiri" mobile phone scam, the Authority indicating that through the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC), it received confirmed reports of the return of the notorious scam.

The Wangiri phone scam occurs when scammers call your mobile phone, which rings once, and hang up before you can answer it.

"This type of scam originated in Japan and is popularly known as "one ring and cut" scam - wan means "one" and giri means "hang up" in Japanese," stated former CA Director-General, Ezra Chiloba in part.

Wangiri is designed to lure innocent and unsuspecting mobile phone users to return the "urgent" international calls upon which they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain their credit.

During the calls, users are made to listen to a recorded message to keep the caller connected. The longer the caller stays connected, the more money the scammers make.

"In such a case, post-paid subscribers are likely to be unaware because they receive their bills at the end of the month. The pre-paid subscribers can only lose as much as their loaded credit," added CA.

In Kenya, many of the calls have been reported to be emanating from telephone numbers with the following codes: +51 (Peru), and +64 (New Zealand), among others.

These telephone numbers are illegally purchased by these scammers from the Dark Web, which is a hidden part of the Internet, known for buying and selling illegal goods and services.