Abstract
M.Sc. (Computer Science)
The past couple of years have seen an explosion in the number of online fraud schemes – Total annual
losses exceed tens of millions of Rands. Many people and organizations from all over the world have
fallen victim to it. Nobody is safe; everybody is vulnerable. As we increasingly make use of the Internet
and mobile technology to do our work and to perform chores such as online banking or shopping, we
become even more vulnerable.
Fraudsters make use of ever-more sophisticated techniques and clever schemes to target the
unsuspecting end-users of mobile and Internet technology, and to trick them into surrendering their
personal information so that electronic transactions can be carried out in their name. Examples include
cheque and credit card fraud, phishing, identity theft and spyware, to name but a few. Services such as
Internet- and cell phone banking especially, provide a haven of possibilities to make easy money
because the technology is relatively new, and it is being used by evermore people who believe that it is
fast, safe and secure and will therefore make their lives easier.
One of the latest scams at the time of this writing is “SIM swap fraud”: Fraudsters target specific victims,
perform SIM swaps on their cell phone numbers, and then proceed to empty the victims’ bank accounts.
This is all done in a matter of minutes, so the victims only realize what has happened when it is too late
to do anything about it. Needless to say, a solution must be found that will prevent unauthorized SIM
swaps and strengthen online banking security.
This dissertation does exactly that. It examines the digital world known as cyberspace, identifies how
SIM swap fraudsters manage to defraud their targets, and presents a biometrics-based security system
to combat SIM swap fraud.