The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commenced the process of implementing a new cross sector identity risk management system aimed at curbing fraud linked to recycled, swapped and barred mobile numbers in Nigeria.
The Commission disclosed this in a Consultation Paper on the Telecoms Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS) released on Friday.
The telecom regulator said the TIRMS platform will serve as a secure and regulatory backed infrastructure to help prevent fraud arising from churned, swapped, barred and recycled Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Numbers.
Multi-regulatory effort
According to the Commission, TIRMS is designed as a multi regulatory effort that will provide a unified mechanism to manage identity related risks across telecoms services and other critical sectors.
“It will support security agencies and key regulators such as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), National Pension Commission (PENCOM), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), etc.
“The Commission intends to strengthen its regulatory processes, regulations and rules to support the implementation of the TIRMS Platform.
“It is in this regard that the Commission initiates this stakeholder’s consultation process to highlight the changes it proposes and give stakeholders the opportunity to respond,” NCC stated.
Mobile number verification
The Commission added that the primary objective of TIRMS is to improve access to verified mobile number services across key sectors to enhance user accountability and reduce fraud exposure.
- Under the framework, service providers across industries will be able to verify the status of mobile numbers that have been recycled, swapped, barred or backlisted for dormancy, suspicious or criminal activities before granting access to services.
- The first phase of implementation will focus on churned numbers that have become inactive due to dormancy, recycled numbers that have been reassigned to new users and swapped numbers.
- As part of this phase, the Commission will develop, test and launch the TIRMS platform with an initial scope limited to providing number status information to key regulators and their licensees.
- This, it said, will address immediate risks, particularly cases of identity takeover linked to number recycling, while laying the foundation for broader deployment.
Mobile Network Operators will be required to provide baseline data on recycled and churned numbers in real time or within a specified timeframe to minimise visibility gaps.
Other sector regulators and their licensees will be onboarded onto the platform to align fraud prevention processes, while regulators will be able to access TIRMS for verification and anti-fraud checks within their respective sectors.
The Commission noted that it intends to strengthen its regulatory processes, rules and guidelines to support the rollout of the platform as part of a broader push to enhance digital security and trust in Nigeria’s telecoms and financial ecosystems.
Add Comment