By Chinenye Anuforo, [email protected]
With technology advancements, ways of doing things have become very simple for everyone and even for fraudsters.
Gone are the days when robbers will hold a gun to your head to force you disclose the pin or code to your bank account or ATM cards.
Do you know that with just the SIM you opened your bank account with, you have given access to your bank information to any fraudster or thief that lay his or her hand on it?
You can protect the data on your phone to the point where no one can access it without knowing the various codes or have the exact biometric pattern of your fingerprint. But what about your phone number or your voice/data plans? Even with the best protection on your smartphone directory structure, someone could simply remove your SIM card — which holds your phone number, security data, billing information, and other bits of data — and place it in their device.
So, the best you can do is to protect your SIM your prevent the story that breaks the heart.
You can protect your SIM following the below process.
* Go to SETTINGS in your phone.
* Go to SECURITY under SETTINGS
* Go to SIM CARD LOCK.
*. Click on LOCK SIM CARD.
* Enter your mobile network default SIM CARD PIN.
*For MTN users it is “00000”.
*For AIRTEL users, you have to call the customer care to get your default SIM lock as each subscriber has his or her own code.
*For 9mobile users it is “0000”
* For GLO users, it is “0000”
*After entering the MOBILE NETWORK DEFAULT PIN, under it You will see “ CHANGE SIM PIN”, click on it to change to Your unique 4-digit pin,
*Confirm your unique 4-digit pin by entering it again & YOU ARE DONE.
So anytime you “On” Your phone, you will be prompted to enter Your SIM CARD PIN just as You will be prompted to enter Your phone lock PIN or Draw Your PATTERN each time You “START” (ON) Your phone.
With the activation of SIM card lock on your phone, your money can never be withdrawn from your bank account through your SIM because your SIM will be useless in their hands since it is blocked and you will not be under tension to go and block or retrieve your stolen SIM.
Note: Don’t use your date of birth as your pin because what we have these days are smart fraudsters, they always have a way to decipher that. It is always good to use code different from your birth date.
