Mobile subscribers vulnerability to financial crime over the SMS platform

Abstract

Numerous benefits have been realised in the use and application of short message services (SMS). Today, over one billion messages are sent each day as a result of communication amongst and between people, businesses and systems. Though few would agree that this service is increasingly being abused, fewer would accept that the abuse is extensive and has a financial loss associated with it. This research paper set out to evaluate the vulnerability of mobile subscribers within counties around Nairobi city in Kenya. It involved a sample of 300 mobile subscribers of different walks of life, education levels and occupation. These were randomly selected. The research set out to find the mode of contact used by the fraudsters, frequency of fraud attempts, knowledge of fraud attempts on other subscribers known to the respondents, who the respondents blamed when targeted and conned, as well as determining what the best approach would be to help protect them from criminals. The study concluded by identifying the various factors that have facilitated financial crime within the mobile network via the SMS platform.