SMS spam surge sparks fears of personal data misuse by telcos

Frustrated users have flooded telcos’ customer-care pages on social media with complaints, questioning how unknown companies acquired their numbers. 

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Kenyan mobile phone users are raising concerns over a surge in spam or unsolicited promotional SMSs, increasing scrutiny over how telecom operators handle customers’ personal data and whether regulators are doing enough to curb intrusive messaging.

Subscribers say their phones have been inundated with trivia alerts, quizzes, motivational quotes, betting platform notifications and digital lending offers, including messages from services they have never used.

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