Rating: Is this a Mobile Money version of the Nigerian scam?
By fluke, GoMo News just might have stumble across a mobile version of the Nigeria 419 money scam. 419 being the area code you’re asked to call in Nigeria. In this case, the fraudster appears to want to get hold of our mobile phone number and ask for our help. Perhaps we are being too suspicious or can one of our readers explain how the scam – involving MTN‘s Mobile Money banking – service might work?“This is what the original email said, “I opened an account with MTN mobile money last week on Tuesday 2nd/11/2010 and I saved 50,000 on that account.” Notice the currency isn’t mentioned.
It continues, “But when I try to check for my balance on my account it tells me that my account is not active. When I call the customer care it tells me Network busy.”
That sounds very plausible but when we suggested that this person emails MTN (because he’s already emailed us) and asks for their help, this is what we get in reply.
“The problem is that I don’t know the real MTN Email or the number though which I can send them a Text though my phone except the MTN helpline, Could you please help me with that?”
He then goes on to give a very British mobile phone number and asks us to call.
Well, what kind of fool is intelligent enough to find a specialist news site which covers mobile banking, yet can’t find an email address for MTN’s helpline?
More to the point, what is this person doing placing $50,000 or whatever in a network operator’s bank in Africa when he doesn’t even know how to contact them?
We can smell the rate but just don’t know how you catch it out. Oh, and we haven’t contacted the mobile phone number yet.
If he is genuine, then the site to check out MTN is www.mtnonline.com.
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Slight correction — they are called 419 scams because that’s the clause of the Nigerian criminal code that applies to them, not because of “419 being the area code you’re asked to call in Nigeria”. They started with letters to addresses taken from printed directories (such as the UK Law Society list of lawyers — I know as my father got one in the mid 1980s), then they switched to email. They’ll be sending them as SMS messages soon enough. People are already using Facebook and similar sites to scam the unsuspecting.
I definitely stand corrected. I have noticed other people calling them 819 scams too!
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