Scammers seem to be changing their tricks as technology evolves. They have moved from pirating email addresses to send false distress messages asking for money from contacts to selling false products on the internet now to robbing people of their money put in phone accounts.
The modus operandi is that a message is sent purportedly from one of the mobile phones operating companies, announcing that the subscriber has won a huge amount of money due to his transactions via mobile money.
The subscriber is therefore asked to furnish personal information as the mobile money account and so forth and then the subscriber is asked to deposit a certain amount of money in his or her account in order to be able to claim the cash prize. Once this is done, the scammers withdraw the money from the person’s account even before he or she has time to withdraw it.
A typical message sent by scammers to this reporter recently reads thus “Bravo dear client; accumulation of points due to mobile money transactions stands at 86 per cent and this enables you to win a bonus of FCAF 230.000 as well as an Orange money bank carte. Contact the mobile money reception through the following number for modalities of claiming the money”.
The message was sent very early in the morning and since by 2.pm there was no reaction, the scammer called this time to find out if the message had been received. As this reporter made it clear it was too good to be true, the suspected scammer realised the business had flopped, dropped the call. Many people attest to have been victims to these men of the underworld.
This phenomenon has raised new questions about the security of the mobile accounts as one cannot understand how they withdraw money from people’s accounts without having their passwords.
A gang of bandits was recently dismantled in Douala who were specialised in way laying girls and collecting their mobile phones and subsequently empty their accounts.
The mobile phone operators are also fuelling this fear with constant messages saying there are disruptions on the network or that it is been restored without any effect on the client’s accounts.
Fred VUBEM TOH
Cameroon: Scammers Target Mobile Accounts
They send messages to users saying that they have won a prize but need a certain amount in their accounts to withdraw the money and clear it when deposited write CT.