Ma l a w i Communications R e g u l a t o r y Authority (Macra) has unveiled plans to roll out the central equipment identification registry to curb mobile money fraud, theft of handsets and other vices.

Macra director general Daud Suleman disclosed this in an interview after appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in Lilongwe on Monday to answer questions relating to Macra operations.

He said although SIM cards are registered, it becomes hard to fight mobile money fraud as thieves use different ones, adding that when one SIM card is blocked, they switch to another while when a phone is stolen, the culprits switch to other networks; hence, it becomes hard to block the phone.

According to Suleman, the central system identification registry will not only help identify the handsets used in the money fraud, but also those stolen so that they are blocked.

“A classic example is the mobile money fraud issues; we have done investigations and we are seeing that most of these frauds are being undertaken from certain areas. There is an area in Chichiri; there is an area in Zomba.

“When you go further into that you will probably see that they are using one handset, but using 100 sim cards. When airtel blocks one SIM card, what they do is insert the second sim card. So, to deter such the proliferation of such acts that is why the central equipment identification registry will be rolled out.

“Airtel and TNM already identify these handsets but now we want to consolidate so that if a handset has been reported stolen on Airtel it cannot go to TNM and no one will use it on TNM because at a higher level, we have blacklisted that handset. If a handset has been flagged to have been used in mobile fraud, we will blacklist it so that it cannot be used anywhere in Malawi. That is the advantage that the central equipment identification agency will bring about,” he said.

PA C chairperson Shadreck Namalomba supported the initiative, saying people are being duped through such crimes and there is need to intensify efforts to stop the vices. Cases of mobile money fraud and theft of handset are rampant in the country. Authorities have made efforts to fight the crimes but culprits find loopholes to still embark on such malpractices.

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