Following reports that certain members of the public had their Ghana cards exploited to register SIM cards that they did not own, the procedure of re-registering SIM cards has descended into controversy.
In fact, several SIM card owners are concerned that numbers that do not belong to them have been registered using their Ghana cards without their knowledge.
In order to prevent the purpose of the re-registration exercise from being defeated, the mobile network operators, the Ministry of Communication and Digitalization, and the National Communications Authority (NCA) offered a check route through the short code *402*1# as a security assurance.
One victim, Adwoa Vic, claimed she did not believe it after going through the screening process.
"Outside of my own number, my card is registered with five other unknown numbers." "I only have one SIM card, and it's an MTN one," she stated.
Given the discoveries concerning the virtual theft of people's Ghana Card credentials for indiscriminate SIM card registration, she questioned whether users were safe in the nation.
People can use the short code to double-check the list of SIM cards that are registered to their Ghana Card.
If a subscriber discovers a SIM card registered in their name without their knowledge, they can request that it be delinked through the system.
The notification to that effect stated, "If you identify any unknown mobile number(s) linked to your Ghana Card, request a delinking of the number(s) from your service provider as soon as possible."
Observation
The Daily Graphic noticed that while those who completed their sim re-registration at the offices of the mobile network operators (MNOs) had no issues with their cards, many of those whose cards were linked to numbers they were unfamiliar with had completed the two-phase process with some authorized agents.
As the re-registration exercise reached its climax, certain interventions were implemented to make the registration procedure more convenient and accessible, as the MNO offices saw significant crowds of individuals wanting to finish the process.
Experiences
Some SIM card owners expressed their amazement at how their Ghana cards were exploited in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic.
A victim named Kwame Kankam claimed that he was first made aware that he had registered more SIM cards than the system's maximum of 10 by his network service provider.
Dear valued customer, You have exceeded the maximum of 10 SIMs that can be registered by an individual; MTN notified you on April 15, 2023. For more help before the additional SIMs are deactivated on April 17, 2023, kindly visit the closest service facility. Please handle this urgently.
Mr. Kankam claimed he was informed at the MTN office that other AirteltiGo numbers had also been registered in his name, in addition to some unknown MTN numbers that had been registered using his Ghana Card.
He added that while it did not take long at the AirteltiGo office to delink the eight extra lines from his Ghana Card, he had to travel back and forth to the MTN office to do the same task.
He claimed he had reason to believe an agency with whom he had done business had registered some MTN and AirteltiGo lines using his Ghana Card.
He stated, "For the time being, they have delinked all the numbers; it is now just the MTN line."
Paul Nyonyo, another victim, claimed that his Ghana Card was used to register three more Vodafone lines in his name that he did not possess.
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