Published on 23/09/2024
Parliament has directed the government to address the rising fraud targeting legislators including Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa.
During a plenary session, Tayebwa shared how a scammer posed as an engineer offering transformers for his Mitooma district. The fraudster, under the alias Eng. Byarugaba, targeted several members of parliament exploiting their local electricity issues.
This growing trend has raised concerns over lawmakers’ vulnerability. A permanent solution is now being sought to curb such scams.
Tayebwa expressed frustration, noting that while the telecom company deactivated one of the scammer’s lines, the fraudster swiftly switched to a different SIM card. He criticized telecom operators, questioning how fraudsters continue to operate despite previous efforts to register all SIM cards.
“We were told all unregistered numbers were removed from the network. How are these criminals still able to exploit the system?” Tayebwa demanded accountability from the telecom companies, drawing parallels to Nigeria, where telecom firms were heavily fined for allowing unregistered numbers to circulate.
Minister of Information, ICT, and National Guidance, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, acknowledged the issue, revealing that some scammers might be using the numbers of deceased individuals. He pledged to hold a meeting with officials from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and the Ministry of Security to address the loophole, promising a detailed report within two weeks.
The Minister warned that telecom companies could face severe penalties if found complicit in allowing unregistered numbers to persist.
Defense Minister Jacob Oboth-Oboth suggested revisiting the legal framework, including the Uganda Communications Act, 2013, and the Electronic Transactions Act, 2011, to hold telecom companies accountable.
He emphasized that imposing liability on service providers would help curb the use of unregistered SIM cards by fraudsters, noting that criminals exploit the system by constantly switching lines. Several MPs proposed stricter measures, including limiting Ugandans to registering a maximum of three phone numbers to ease monitoring by UCC.
The ministers agreed on the urgency of tightening regulations to protect Ugandans from escalating electronic fraud, which has, in some cases, led to robbery and murder.
