Stolen Identity
While watching Sci-fi like 24 Hours almost two decades ago, one of the strange concepts I learned about was Identity Theft.
It was hard for me to understand. I am me, how can someone steal me(my identity)?
The idea is no longer far off with the proliferation of mobile communication technologies being connected to Identification Programs run by Governments and Institutions, especially Financial Institutions.
Except one lives ‘off the grid’ it is almost impossible to do without these systems. They relatively make life and living easier as they provide a lot of possibilities for people and businesses.
Systems like the BVN and NIN which should help us to know who owns what accounts are connected to our mobile sim card since it is assumed that these sim cards in mobile devices will always be with us. It is like a concrete abstraction of our identities in digital systems. The moment this Digital Identity is accessed or used without your consent, your identity is stolen. And since this is how the State or Institution can verify that you carried out an action, this identity could be used with malicious intent to implicate you.
A sad twist is the idea of Sim Card Recycling which allows Telecommunication Providers to sell a previously assigned (which is now ‘idle’) number to another person because they do not want to run out of numbers so fast since Mobile subscribers are increasing and many people also use more than one sim card.
Aside from that these sim cards are connected to Financial and State Issued Identities they also store data from previous users like contacts, and messages which could be accessed by the new user.
The icing on the cake of trouble is possible by USSD codes. It is possible to buy recharge cards and access the BVN of a user. With a phone number, date of birth(both of which are public information), and the BVN which can be gotten through a popular USSD code, I can open multiple bank accounts in anyone’s name. It appears we have sacrificed security on the altar of convenience.
This might not be done by a stranger but also by an acquaintance, be it one’s child, friend, or spouse.
Hence eternal vigilance is required since the industry and institutions that are expected should protect one seems busy covering their own side and not ours as consumers.
We all get furious if someone used our picture to create a social media profile, someone creating a bank account in our names is a terrible nightmare because they have an institutionally verified tool to back up their evil whose further victims would most likely be our friends and family.
Perhaps there is a connivance in the Telco industries with these unscrupulous elements in accessing recycled sim cards. Should people be informed they are buying a recycled number when they are getting a sim card?
Another worrying trend is people with malicious intent getting the date of birth and picture of kids from their parent’s profiles to create social media accounts in their name, similar could extend to state-issued identities if it is not nipped in the bud. Email addresses created for kids by parents should also have necessary security safeguards so that the kids do not grow up struggling with Identity thieves.
Any sim card that is connected to our state-issued Identities must be guarded jealously and if stolen must be recovered quickly.
