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Newest Scammers in Town Using Airtel Brand
From the Outside Looking
The Airtel number at which the call came through is 0256 754 364 934. The caller at the other end started to ask awkward questions: “When did you last register with Airtel?; “How long have you had that number?” “Do you use Airtime or Mobile Money for your calling account ?” “How much money do you have in your Airtime Account now?”; “When did you last load?” And so on and so forth!
This was becoming ridiculous! If this was the Airtel personnel, then they could easily have checked my Airtel number, the one he was ringing? This type of questioning was becoming suspicious to me. Fortunately, I had an Airtel agent nearby. I handed him my set to listen to the caller. The agent asked the caller where he was calling from, because he wanted to report the matter to the manager. Instantly, the caller switched off!
That is when it became clear that this is the newest scam in town. With this prevalent AI – Artificial Intelligence – anything appears to be possible. Some so-called clever conmen are using these brands to steal money from the unsuspecting mobile phone users.
How was the conman hoping to “earn”? Evidently, he was going to get my code. Then, he would have got access to the Mobile Money account. He was going to get at that when he asked how much money was left in the account; and how much money I had deposited in the account lately. In that way, one exposes his/he r code to the scammers, and then they are able to draw the money one puts in at any time they realize there is money in the account.
The Airtel Company may or may not be aware of this. Even when I was telling the caller that I was surprised that Airtel should ask how long I had had the number, he seemed unperturbed when I told him that I had had the number for two decades. And that I was going to the Airtel main office to check out this obviously un-called for inquisitiveness. It was quite irritating when the scammer wanted to know if I had the National Identity (ID) card.
Had I not been with somebody aware of this con act; and had I surrendered some of the details the fellow was after, I might have surrendered to the scammer. It would not have mattered if and when I would have gone to the Airtel Company to cross-check this assault on my phone privacy; the act would have been done.
From time-to-time this perfidy raises its ugly head; then, after the authorities get aware of this line of theft, they withdraw a bit and keep quite. But it will resurface after some time. It depends if the authorities will adequately deal with the matter.
In this particular incident, it depends how many Airtel customers have been conned up to the rime I was approached. And it also depends how many times these scammers have been stopped in their tracks. If they have not by now been silenced, then they are still on the go, to steal money from the unaware subscribers.
It is difficult to stop a thief on the make – especially AI thieves. It should be the reason it is actually “artificial”. The “intelligence” factor of it has to be human, to detect the spurious acts of these unwarranted people in the country.
szumuz@yahoo.com
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