What do you get when you have over 400000 young people graduating every year but only 10% of them can get jobs? Let’s answer that for you. You get educated unemployed youth.
Contrary to popular belief, unemployment does not necessarily mean idleness. These people put their minds to use and come up with ways of earning a living, although some of these means are illegal.
Some of these illegal means include plotting fraud schemes by exploiting the loopholes on the mobile money platform, or ignorance of mobile money agents and some customers. We have listed things you can do to make sure you don’t fall victim to these self-employed fraudsters.
Fake mobile money messages
Fraudsters have a way of sending fake mobile money messages, and then call you and beg you to resend like half the money and give you the rest. Beware of these. First check your balance on your account to confirm that you have indeed received the money before excitedly sending them ‘half their money.’
Keep your PIN secret
This is public knowledge. The ‘P’ in PIN stands for ‘personal’ which means it should not be unnecessarily disclosed to anyone, let alone strangers.
Fake calls telling you that you have won a prize
People, please, we know winning things is a great feeling but there is no way you can win something that you have not participated in. If someone calls you and says that you have won a brand new Plasma TV or a Toyota Harrier and they require you to either send some money for delivery or press some codes on your phone that include your mobile money PIN, please hang up. There and then. Report the number as well.
Don’t trust anyone, not even the agent
When making a transaction, make sure the agent doesn’t see your PIN. Remember they already have your number, having your PIN will give them access to your account (yes, even without your phone).
If the network is intermittent, please don’t force the transaction
Chances are, you might do a double transaction, or your transaction may fail to be processed, but your money might have been deducted from your account already. Yes, our telecom companies are stubborn like that. Reclaiming it might take you months as those people will ask for your national ID, driving permit, academic documents, and/or marriage certificate. Okay that is a bit a bit exaggerated but we all know the refund process can be overly tedious that some people just actually give it up altogether.
Also remember, airtime top up and depositing money on your mobile money account is free, everywhere. Some people misuse this option by telling the agent they are depositing on their account yet they are sending it to someone. This has prompted some agents to ask for a fee to deposit the money, but it shouldn’t be the case, hey, we are trying to curb fraud here.
