By Emmanuel Ogala
On a Thursday night in early January this year, Pascal Adeniyi had just had dinner and was getting ready to go to bed when his phone beeped, indicating that he had received a text message. He picked up the phone and lay back on his pillow to read the message. Very quickly, he sat up on his bed with a broad smile on his face as he read the text message for the second time. The message said that he has been selected to participate in a contest where he could win N10 million and a car. To participate, he was asked to reply “yes” to the text.
The message was from a short code, 555, used by his service provider, Glo, for promotional purposes. Mr. Adeniyi replied to the message quickly and a simple question was sent back to him. He answered the first question and was immediately pulled into in a maze of unending question and answer texts which lasted five days and cost him a total of N35, 000 on his contract plan.
Mr. Adeniyi, like millions of mobile telephone subscribers in Nigeria, has been a victim of what appears to be a new kind of fraud currently flooding the largely unregulated but booming short code and mobile telephone value-added service industry in Nigeria. Mr. Adeniyi feels cheated but at least, his loss was to a legitimate game, the widely advertised “Glo Text a Million Season 2 Promo” in which many people have been shown on television to have won prizes. There are, however, many people losing money to scores of other ‘not advertised’ scam mobile telephone value-added services.
10 digit scam
Tochi Ude, for instance, was defrauded on his MTN phone by a different type of deceptive value-added service with a number longer than most short codes. While at work in November last year, he got a text on his phone from an unusual 10 digit number, 9609908918.
“Hi, I tried to call you, call me back on this number. +9609908918,” the message read. He quickly dialled the number and an automated voice answered, asking him to wait while his service was sorted. He waited.
“I thought it was one of my friends in India, because the numbers looked like an Indian code,” Mr. Ude said.
It turned out to be an unending Interactive Voice Response (IVR) leading him through a maze of options and encouraging him to stay longer online. Eventually, his air time ran out. He spent five minutes on the call but never got to speak to anyone and could not find out who it was that wanted to reach him. He hung up and checked his balance. He was billed N500 for the five minutes he spent with the IVR.
“Each minute cost N100, but the text never said that,” he said. “The number was strange and there was no detail about the service provider and the cost. Just the one sentence in the message.”
Later, he contacted his three friends in India and all said they didn’t try to reach him at that time. He got the same text three times that month but never called it after the first scam. A couple of his friends also got similar messages in December but in a different form and from a different number.
Ojoma Ocheja was scammed by a similar scheme. Last week, she got a text from a 10-digit number, 6703302973. The message said a secret admirer had sent her a love song. The text instructed her to call +6703302973 to hear the song and the identity of the person that sent her the song.
“There was no information of the cost of the service in the text neither did the service providers indicate their identity so I thought it was from MTN,” Ms. Ocheja said. She called the 10-digit number. It turned out to be an unending IVR. She dropped the call three minutes later, after she sensed that there was something wrong.
“I didn’t hear both the song and the identity of the sender,” she said. “Rather, the female voice at the IVR continuously gave me options luring me on.”
Moneyed scheme
According to statistics from the National Communication Commission, as at September 2010, there were 75.362 million active GSM lines in Nigeria; all of them vulnerable to these scams which come in different formats across networks of various service providers. If 0.1 percent of the active subscribers spend at least a minute calling any of these services each day, subscribers will lose N7.536 million daily, N52.753 million in a week and N1.582 billion in a month. If 1 percent of the active subscribers use the service at the same rate, they will be defrauded of N15.82 billion in one month. All victims interviewed by NEXT say they received the messages more than once and spent more than a minute on the call.
“Curiosity will keep you on the call,” Mr. Ude said.
The telephone numbers that were used to defraud Mr. Ude and others in November were different from those other complainants got in December and yet, different from the numbers being used in the scheme now. Each of them is deactivated for the next scam — with new formats — a NEXT investigation has revealed.
No regulation
Although this segment of the mobile communication industry spins billions of naira monthly, mostly for service not rendered, the sector is not regulated. On April 8, 2010, Ernest Ndukwe, then executive vice chairman of the NCC, which regulates telecoms and operations in Nigeria, met with his fellow board members in Abuja for a public inquiry into the proposed guidelines on short code operations in Nigeria. Eleven months later, the guidelines are still in a draft form but millions of Nigerians have been scammed and lost money and there is no way to trace the perpetuaters of the scam. Basher Gwandu, the executive commissioner, technical services at NCC, said the commission is still working on regulating the short code industry. promising to “investigate further including the Glo number”.
The only form of regulation for the short code in the telecoms industry, currently, is a non-legally binding code of conduct document offered by Wireless Application Service Providers’ of Nigeria (WASPN). WASPN is a voluntary organization based in Lagos and admits third-party content developers — most of whom own the short code services and use traditional network providers — who are willing to give them a platform.
“Not all content developers are members of WASPN ...neither are they obligated to join,” Eunice Benjamin Ade, the business application manager of WASPN told NEXT.
Mrs. Ade explained that it is only members of the association that are bound by its code of conduct. She disowned the various fraudulent service providers mentioned in this story saying: “I want to assure you that it is not emanating from any WASPN member, because they are bound by the code of conduct,” she said.
As things stand, it appears that the first line of security and protection from fraudulent content developers is the service provider. The service provider is the bridge between the subscriber and the content developer. The service providers deduct money from the subscribers’ accounts and share this revenue with the content developers.
However, since there are no laws or guidelines for the short code industry, subscribers are at the mercy of their providers’ ability to sniff out, con artistes. At the moment, service providers don’t appear to be doing a decent job at this. There are also, of course, promos that are conducted by the service providers themselves, like the one Mr. Adeniyi participated in. These come with the traditional “terms and condition” for its use. However, a lot of its users like Mr. Adeniyi say they feel cheated.
“I think it is a fraudulent game,” Iyabo Oyelese, another subscriber said. She argued that the game is “unreasonably too long” and does not provide sufficient information about the cost.
Bode Opeseitan, the spokesperson for Glo could not be reached for comments on these allegations. He did not answer calls neither did he reply to text messages from NEXT.
MTN promised to respond to questions concerning the fraud practised via its network, but the reaction never came.
While service providers drag their feet in providing protection to their subscribers from fraudsters, and the NCC finetunes the short code guidelines, experts advise subscribers to stay way from these schemes, and when they feel they want to give it a shot, they should only to put at stake telephone credit they feel they can afford to lose. source: NEXT
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The message was from a short code, 555, used by his service provider, Glo, for promotional purposes. Mr. Adeniyi replied to the message quickly and a simple question was sent back to him. He answered the first question and was immediately pulled into in a maze of unending question and answer texts which lasted five days and cost him a total of N35, 000 on his contract plan.
Mr. Adeniyi, like millions of mobile telephone subscribers in Nigeria, has been a victim of what appears to be a new kind of fraud currently flooding the largely unregulated but booming short code and mobile telephone value-added service industry in Nigeria. Mr. Adeniyi feels cheated but at least, his loss was to a legitimate game, the widely advertised “Glo Text a Million Season 2 Promo” in which many people have been shown on television to have won prizes. There are, however, many people losing money to scores of other ‘not advertised’ scam mobile telephone value-added services.
10 digit scam
Tochi Ude, for instance, was defrauded on his MTN phone by a different type of deceptive value-added service with a number longer than most short codes. While at work in November last year, he got a text on his phone from an unusual 10 digit number, 9609908918.
“Hi, I tried to call you, call me back on this number. +9609908918,” the message read. He quickly dialled the number and an automated voice answered, asking him to wait while his service was sorted. He waited.
“I thought it was one of my friends in India, because the numbers looked like an Indian code,” Mr. Ude said.
It turned out to be an unending Interactive Voice Response (IVR) leading him through a maze of options and encouraging him to stay longer online. Eventually, his air time ran out. He spent five minutes on the call but never got to speak to anyone and could not find out who it was that wanted to reach him. He hung up and checked his balance. He was billed N500 for the five minutes he spent with the IVR.
“Each minute cost N100, but the text never said that,” he said. “The number was strange and there was no detail about the service provider and the cost. Just the one sentence in the message.”
Later, he contacted his three friends in India and all said they didn’t try to reach him at that time. He got the same text three times that month but never called it after the first scam. A couple of his friends also got similar messages in December but in a different form and from a different number.
Ojoma Ocheja was scammed by a similar scheme. Last week, she got a text from a 10-digit number, 6703302973. The message said a secret admirer had sent her a love song. The text instructed her to call +6703302973 to hear the song and the identity of the person that sent her the song.
“There was no information of the cost of the service in the text neither did the service providers indicate their identity so I thought it was from MTN,” Ms. Ocheja said. She called the 10-digit number. It turned out to be an unending IVR. She dropped the call three minutes later, after she sensed that there was something wrong.
“I didn’t hear both the song and the identity of the sender,” she said. “Rather, the female voice at the IVR continuously gave me options luring me on.”
Moneyed scheme
According to statistics from the National Communication Commission, as at September 2010, there were 75.362 million active GSM lines in Nigeria; all of them vulnerable to these scams which come in different formats across networks of various service providers. If 0.1 percent of the active subscribers spend at least a minute calling any of these services each day, subscribers will lose N7.536 million daily, N52.753 million in a week and N1.582 billion in a month. If 1 percent of the active subscribers use the service at the same rate, they will be defrauded of N15.82 billion in one month. All victims interviewed by NEXT say they received the messages more than once and spent more than a minute on the call.
“Curiosity will keep you on the call,” Mr. Ude said.
The telephone numbers that were used to defraud Mr. Ude and others in November were different from those other complainants got in December and yet, different from the numbers being used in the scheme now. Each of them is deactivated for the next scam — with new formats — a NEXT investigation has revealed.
No regulation
Although this segment of the mobile communication industry spins billions of naira monthly, mostly for service not rendered, the sector is not regulated. On April 8, 2010, Ernest Ndukwe, then executive vice chairman of the NCC, which regulates telecoms and operations in Nigeria, met with his fellow board members in Abuja for a public inquiry into the proposed guidelines on short code operations in Nigeria. Eleven months later, the guidelines are still in a draft form but millions of Nigerians have been scammed and lost money and there is no way to trace the perpetuaters of the scam. Basher Gwandu, the executive commissioner, technical services at NCC, said the commission is still working on regulating the short code industry. promising to “investigate further including the Glo number”.
The only form of regulation for the short code in the telecoms industry, currently, is a non-legally binding code of conduct document offered by Wireless Application Service Providers’ of Nigeria (WASPN). WASPN is a voluntary organization based in Lagos and admits third-party content developers — most of whom own the short code services and use traditional network providers — who are willing to give them a platform.
“Not all content developers are members of WASPN ...neither are they obligated to join,” Eunice Benjamin Ade, the business application manager of WASPN told NEXT.
Mrs. Ade explained that it is only members of the association that are bound by its code of conduct. She disowned the various fraudulent service providers mentioned in this story saying: “I want to assure you that it is not emanating from any WASPN member, because they are bound by the code of conduct,” she said.
As things stand, it appears that the first line of security and protection from fraudulent content developers is the service provider. The service provider is the bridge between the subscriber and the content developer. The service providers deduct money from the subscribers’ accounts and share this revenue with the content developers.
However, since there are no laws or guidelines for the short code industry, subscribers are at the mercy of their providers’ ability to sniff out, con artistes. At the moment, service providers don’t appear to be doing a decent job at this. There are also, of course, promos that are conducted by the service providers themselves, like the one Mr. Adeniyi participated in. These come with the traditional “terms and condition” for its use. However, a lot of its users like Mr. Adeniyi say they feel cheated.
“I think it is a fraudulent game,” Iyabo Oyelese, another subscriber said. She argued that the game is “unreasonably too long” and does not provide sufficient information about the cost.
Bode Opeseitan, the spokesperson for Glo could not be reached for comments on these allegations. He did not answer calls neither did he reply to text messages from NEXT.
MTN promised to respond to questions concerning the fraud practised via its network, but the reaction never came.
While service providers drag their feet in providing protection to their subscribers from fraudsters, and the NCC finetunes the short code guidelines, experts advise subscribers to stay way from these schemes, and when they feel they want to give it a shot, they should only to put at stake telephone credit they feel they can afford to lose. source: NEXT
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While visiting a very rich friend, the maid approached me & see me see trouble ooo.
Question: Sir, what would you like to have, fruit juice, soda, tea, chocolate, cappuccino, frapuccino or coffee?
Answer: Tea please.
Question : Ceylon tea, Indian tea, herbal tea, bush tea, honey bush tea, iced tea or green tea?
Answer: Ceylon tea please.
Question : How would you like it, black or white?
Answer: White.
Question : Milk or fresh cream?
Answer: With milk.
Question : Goat's milk or cow's milk?
Answer; With cow's milk please.
Question : Freeze land cow or Afrikaner cow?
Answer: Umm, think I'll just take it black.
Question : Would you like it with sweetener, sugar or honey?
Answer: With sugar.
Question : Bee sugar or cane sugar?
Answer: Cane sugar.
Question : White, brown or yellow sugar?
Answer: Oya, forget about the tea, just give me a glass of water instead.
Question: Mineral water, tap water or distilled water?
Answer: Mineral water.
Question : Flavoured or non-flavoured?
Answer: Abeg, I think I'll just die of thirst.
Which kind wahala be dis.
Very good memories indeed. I remember the game between IICC and Enugu Rangers in the year of 1977. Both clubs met over two legs in the semi finals (if I can remember rightly) which Rangers won eventual to progress onto the finals which they won. The game had to be decided on penalty kicks when the best attack (IICC) in Nigerian Football at the time came up against the best defense (Rangers). Both games were tensed and only Emmanuel Okala and a very resolute Rangers defence saw them through. Thanks for the entertainment and memories guys.
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