There are several definitions of stupidity, one of them is that which is being practiced by banks and Safaricom that I once upon a time talked about in the article M-PESA is notorious in this. A paragraph in that article would help define the type of stupidity I am talking about:
M-PESA is notorious in this. I have the phone; I have the PIN, they still need an ID. No, they don’t require one to produce an ID if the withdrawal is via one of the over 1000 ATM points they have been busy promoting in recent years.
What am I saying? Isn’t my experience supposed to mean that Banks and their ilk do not trust the personal identification credentials they have provide for mobile, Internet and ATM banking? Aren’t they saying that any transactions carried out without production of an ID document means such transactions are carried out at customers’ own peril? Whatever logic it is that they are using for refusing mobile or ATM PIN verification process for over the counter withdrawals, I find such logic irrational.
The point is, if there is a method for delivering a service to anyone without a particular requirement, then such service should be delivered via the other method without that particular requirement if all other requirements needed for the first method can be provided.
As mentioned in the article Safaricom should help me get back my lost ID, I am prone to losing IDs and that means I do not have a National ID right now. I also didn’t have an ID on a day of 2013 when I needed to replace my Safaricom line. I went to seek help from Safaricom’s Care Center in Nakuru. I was helped.
The customer care lady, after apologizing that it would be hard to help me without the ID, listened to me when I explained to her that if I opted to buy a replacement line from a local shop, then called Safaricom’s customer care, the same customer care could have sorted me by asking me a few personal questions to verify my identity. I told her to ask me similar questions as the only thing that had changed is my physical presence – which actually is better than a phone call as through a phone call there is no way she could have placed a face to the voice. She listened, understood, and served me.
That’s why when in early August this year Equity Bank told me to go to my branch and physically apply for replacement of my Eazzy 247 PIN, I got mad and wrote the article, Equity Bank should copy Safaricom on resetting Eazzy 247 PIN. “Why can’t this bank be as efficient as Safaricom in customer care?” I asked myself.
The appreciation I had for Safaricom had to be spoilt this morning. Since I lost my ID I haven’t bothered to replace it, hoping that I won’t be mistaken for an Al-Shabaab anytime between then and getting a new one. So far I have lived OK only that last Thursday a policeman in Nakuru harassed me for not having an ID but I was able to convince him that I am a legit Kenyan without a bribe (yes some Kenyan policemen can be reasoned with).
But this morning I was disturbed when reasoning with a Safaricom’s customer care lady at Kimathi Street care center reached a dead end. While waiting to be served in the queue, a lady came to ask what service I required, “To renew my line” I answered.
“Do you have an ID”
“No”
“Passport?”
“No”.
“You can’t be helped”
“I have been helped before without an ID, you should be able to help me even today”.
“No you can’t be helped”.
“Well, last time I didn’t have an ID the customer care lady asked me a few questions the same way you ask when someone calls”.
“Okay, try your luck”, she said unconvinced as she went to serve the next customer in line.
Shortly after it was my turn to be served at the counter. I approached the lady in confidence, told her my problem, she asked for the ID, I told her I don’t have one, she said she can’t be of help, I explained to her about the question answer session, she opened her comp, almost started the process of solving my problem, then she changed her mind. She asked me to go and look for some identification even if it is a police abstract.
Trust me I didn’t like it. You know, I can still get my line replaced legitimately without having to produce an ID. I will only need to buy a replacement line from a shop near my house back in the estate, call 100 using another Safaricom line, have them ask me those questions they declined to ask in my presence, and they will activate the line.
So Safaricom, if it is not stupidity that defines your policy of not helping a customer who has come to your customer care without an ID, yet you do provide the same service to the same customer via phone simply by asking a set of questions, then what is it? What prevents you from implementing the question answer session when a customer presents himself physically to your premises? Could it be you reason that when a customer comes physically he is likely impersonating another but that impersonation in impossible via phone calls?
There’s something known as a Central Bank. That Central Bank has Know Your Customer requirements. Google is your friend.
Have you heard about ATM fraud? There’s a consequence to not asking for your ID. It is also the reason there are limits as to how much you can transact through an ATM. It’s to protect you, my dear sir.
Thirdly it’s to protect you, kind sir. Without requiring ID, I could walk into Safaricom and using something known as social engineering, be able to get both a new SIM card with access to your M-Pesa. ID simply makes it harder for someone to do this. Without ID, I could walk into a bank, tell them I’m Odipo Riaga they ask me a few questions, which I will answer and walk away. It’s not that difficult. They are trying to help you keep your money, why is this so hard to understand.
Finally, walking around without ID is nothing to be proud about. It’s a mark of great stupidity. Should you be hit by a truck, how will people identify you? What is your family to do? It is selfish and irresponsible. How do you do Visa transactions without ID?
Safaricom does renew phone numbers without ID via phone calls. If a service can be provided without an ID using one method, then the same service (and I mean the very same service) should be provided using a second method as long as all requirements for the first method are presented.
That is, banks should be able to allow for over the counter withdrawals for amounts that can be withdrawn via ATM without asking for an ID as long as identification requirements needed for an ATM withdrawal are provided.
For example, if you have an online store and offline store; and you do accept Lipa na M-PESA for online purchases, I would really be pissed if you don’t accept the same Lipa na M-PESA for offline purchases.
Walking without an ID is at my own risk and I take all responsibilities.
In my opinion, physical identification at customer service is a matter of policy and has very logical background to it as far as subscriber’s account security is concerned. The natural assumption when authenticating oneself through the phone is that both the caller and the customer care rep on the other end of the line have never met and therefore there is minimal chance of actively engaging in a mischief. I totally agree with the policy
Do you see how stupid this sounds? You need your PIN to withdraw from an ATM. You don’t need one to withdraw over the counter. What is to prevent ten people from walking into ten different branches and emptying your accounts (because, mind you, the daily transaction limits on over the counter transactions are fairly high). You are asking banks to make your money less secure! It’s a good thing that Safaricom made it less convenient to resuscitate a line. It’s a good thing. Your laziness should not advice public policy.
Of course you say you take all responsibilities, until your money goes missing. Then you will go complain to the bank and ask “didn’t you ask them for ID”.
One more factor you have not included is this – for your transaction charges to be affordable and your money safe, banks insure your money and these procedures ensure that they get a low rate from the insurer. This ensures it’s cheap enough to transact and should there be fraud, you get your money back. What you are suggesting increases risk.
I will say this again, your laziness and poor understanding of financial systems is proof of why Safaricom should ask you for ID, because not everyone can be trusted to act in their own self interest. You cannot be trusted to act in your own self interest.
Mine is simple really – if a set of questions can be used to know me through a mere phone call (Know Your Customer argument), then the same set of questions should be able to determine that I am not my brother in my physical presence.
I don’t understand how my physical presence changes the equation.
No other identification documents should be required in my physical presence if the same documents were not needed in my virtual presence.
By the way, it is easier for my brother to give Safaricom a call and claim to be me than him going to Safaricom’s care center and claim to be me.
Logic is very simple, in a call center the call is recorded so the answers you provide to the questions you are asked will be recorded, so incase of any dispute/fraudulent swap a record is available, in the care center however there will be no evidence of whether you provided the correct answers or not
When I was helped in Nakuru there seemed to be a record; or at least I saw the lady type in things as I answered her questions.
By the way, whenever someone presents an ID, there is always no record that such an ID was presented. They simply look at it and hand it back.
id details are captured, id number and place of issue
Odipo, IDs are harder to forge, so if nothing else it reduces the number of people who can impersonate you. This is being done for your own good. I cannot believe that a tech blogger like yourself needs this explained. Your laziness should not advise the Communication Authority’s policy or that of the Central Bank of Kenya. It’s an inconvenience, but it’s to safeguard you. It’s to make it that much harder for someone to impersonate you.
Safaricom would be in trouble if it is proved that they didn’t ask for ID and something fraudulent happened. The government holds them accountable. You hold them accountable to safeguard your funds. They are doing this for you. Why is this so hard for you to understand?
It’s hard to understand because the same safeguards are not applicable when I make a simple phone call for the same service. If an impersonator knows the answers to the set questions for KYC business, what prevents him from making a call to Safaricom and do the damage he intends to do?
That’s why Safaricom refused to re-activate the line over the phone, they realised there was a security flaw. You find out there’s a flaw, you fix it my dear sir, even if it’s inconvenient for some.
They didn’t and they don’t refuse. I have reactivated my line over the phone severally. You simply buy a replacement line and if you are unable to obtain the PIN number for the lost sim card, you call 100. Customer care will ask you a series of questions and once satisfied, they reactivate your line. Simple.
They refused to re-active in my physical presence yet I asked them to ask me the questions they could have asked to verify my identity if I gave them a call instead.
That is a problem that should worry you. It should not excite you.
Start your own bank, allow guys to do what you suggest, then see the sort of trouble you will be in.
So basically the initial problem is them reactivating lines from a phone call – because my reasoning is simple, if a set of questions can verify one’s identity virtually, then the same set of questions should be able to verify the same person’s identity physically.