Author: Adesoji OMOSEBI
AS cost of living is getting out of reach of common man, the evil ones in our midst are perfecting their plans to reap where they did not sow.
Meanwhile, their targets are the innocent and gullible Nigerians who are uninformed.
I wish to take it upon myself to expose these evil lazy ones as part of Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR) of SOJ worldwide online news to all our readers.
Categories of Scammers:
1). These ones had been on for sometime but are now very desperate to defraud innocent Nigerians. They will call you by your names and mention the WhatsApp group you belong to convince and confuse you. They will tell you if you are not aware there is training in the group. Expected answer is that you are not aware. They will pretend to offer assistance so that you can join at a specific time by sending a code to your phone as a text message, requesting you to tell them the code. The problem starts from where you send or tell them codes.
Once you send the codes, first, they will hack your phone number, take over all your Social Media contacts empty your bank account, use your contacts to defraud people.
If you fall victim, rush to block your bank accounts, you may be lucky if they have not emptied it.
Go to your Network Provider, MTN, GLO, AIRTEL OR ETISALAT to report so that they can retrieve back your number.
I have received up to five calls within two weeks, I was tired of cursing them. The last one said he was Pastor Vincent. After listening to him patiently, I told him “and you called yourself a Pastor using the name of God to defraud innocent people.” He cut off the phone.
2) These ones are experts who are knowledgeable about internet programming. They go out to either withdraw, transfer cash from POS Operators or buy goods or services with a promise to transfer funds into your account. You will actually receive credit alerts on your phone but it is fake.
From my findings, these Fraudsters have a dubious Application named, ProBank they are using it to send the fake alerts. They have used it to siphon millions of Naira from people’s accounts.
Solution: Having read the above, don’t rely on credit alerts again despite seeing it on your phone. Download your Bank’s Application to reconfirm if your account was actually credited or call your Bank Officer to confirm if your account was credited with same amount sent.
3) There is a common content of big organizations, events or anniversary of notable government agencies, companies giving out largesse to people free. If you click the link your phone number can be hacked.
Example is this, DONT DEAL PLEASE!:
*MTN AND AIRTEL CELEBRATE NIGERIAN CHEF, HILDA BACI, FOR BREAKING GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR LONGEST COOKING TIME*
_*MTN* AND *AIRTEL* is giving their customers 10gb free data and ₦5,000 Airtime in Celebration of *HILDA BACI* THE NIGERIAN CHEF FOR BREAKING GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR LONGEST COOKING TIME_
Hurry now and grab this *HILDA BACI CELEBRATION* offer
FOR MTN👇👇
*https://bit.ly/10GB-MTN-AIRTEL-FREE-DATA*
FOR AIRTEL👇👇
https://bit.ly/10GB-MTN-AIRTEL-FREE-DATA
Lest I forget, to create WhatsApp group is as risky as driving a vehicle without brake. I had nasty experience with these lazy youths who prefers to reap where they did not sow.
I created groups to maximize the traffic and incomes of SOJ WORLDWIDE ONLINE NEWS, the major challenges I always encounter are these scammers who will promise to pay their clients N20,000 if they can invest N10,000 within few hours.
Some gullible Nigerians will still fall victims into their traps forgetting the collapse of MMM few years ago. Purpose of creating the groups is to make it interactive on national issues after our publications but these underworld elements would not allow it.
I had a nasty experience when members of the group asked me remove them which I always did by blocking and reporting them. They always come back immediately they are removed. It could be frustrating. They have multiple phone lines. It became a nightmare for me when members are insinuating that I am one of them.
I had to painfully changed all the group settings from ‘All’ to ‘Only Admin’ against my wish.
My advice, if you don’t know all the Knitty gritty of how to open and manage WhatsApp groups, don’t force yourself to open it, otherwise you may end up in jail for what you knew nothing about.
Admin of WhatsApp is liable for anything that goes wrong in the group.
I have taken the pains to let you know the tactics scammers are using to defraud people, if you now fall victim, it is as a result of greed in your genes.
A word is enough for the wise!
