ROC partner Vigilate AI tapped to stop SIM, ID fraud in South Africa

There’s a growing wave of identity theft and SIM swap fraud incidents in South Africa, and the country’s major telco, MTN, is moving to counter that by introducing a new biometric system to identify SIM card users.

The company made the announcement this week, saying the measure is taking effect in all of its stores across the country.

With the new system, all those seeking to register a SIM card or re-identify themselves will go through real-time fingerprint and face biometric verification.

The telco said it is partnering with UK-based biometric solutions provider Vigilate AI on the project. Vigilate uses biometric algorithms for fingerprints and facial recognition from U.S.-based ROC, which has consistently scored amongst accuracy leaders in independent testing.

MTN said the rollout of the new biometric system follows a pilot which ran for six months in about 20 percent of its stores nationwide. It was said to be a highly successful pilot which facilitated customer onboarding for those seeking new subscription contracts, and drastically curbed instances of identity theft.

“The feedback from our pilot stores was overwhelmingly positive. Customers praised the dramatically faster sign-up, error-free verification, and convenience of the new process. It’s a great example of how we’re using technology to deliver real, tangible value,” Tech Africa News quotes MTN South Africa’s Customer Operations Executive, Cornelia van Heerden, as saying.

“Our objective was simple. We wanted a customer-first solution that streamlines processes while addressing the growing challenge of fraud in the telecoms space. This biometric system not only simplifies onboarding – but it also assists in fraud prevention in telecom.”

The executive also explained that the new biometric system to identify SIM card users is part of the company’s efforts to drive innovation through increased investment. Through this, she says, “we’ve reimagined the customer journey to be faster, more secure, and more intuitive, without compromising convenience.”

According to South Africa’s 2025 telecommunications sector report produced by the Communications Risks Information Center, the country continues to see high levels of SIM swap fraud, subscription and identity fraud, illicit use of SIM boxes, synthetic identity, and criminal bypass of SIM authentication procedures, among other telecom sector threats.

The report indicated that SIM-swap fraud, for instance, was costing the country around 5.3 billion rand a year in losses, approximately US$298 million.

In the past, there have also been reports about some South Africans registering eSIMs with fake IDs on some mobile network websites.

Outside South Africa, MTN has also deployed biometric SIM registration in some of its markets through platforms like the Seamfix Enrollment Suite which has liveness detection capabilities.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  MTN Group  |  ROC  |  SIM card registration  |  South Africa  |  telecom  |  Vigilate AI