During this COVID-19 quarantine period, several mobile phone subscribers using digital financial platforms have been falling prey to scammers engaged in mobile money fraud. This has been noted by the Ugandan Communication Commission (UCC) which has come out to issue some guidelines and urged people to be vigilant.
According to the regulator, the scammers are running fake promotions and in some cases posing as employees of UCC or of a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) like MTN or Airtel, and requesting subscribers to enter codes in their phones, or to share their mobile money PIN in order to complete a fraudulent requirement of registration.
These Mobile Money scams have resulted in a loss of considerable sums of money by unsuspecting subscribers, and more so during this COVID-19 lockdown, with subscribers increasingly using digital financial platforms which are now zero rated by Airtel, MTN and Africell due to limited mobility, and therefore desperate not to lose connectivity.
In order to maintain a safe and secure communications services and digital financial environment, the Commission says that collaborating with the phone companies and security agencies to curb this mobile money vice. Subscribers are advised to be vigilant and follow these guidelines:
- Don’t share your PIN over the phone or with any third party.
- Verify any SIM registration request with your service provider’s call center (Call 100) or other channels established for consumer engagement (UCC Toll-Free – 0800 222 777).
- Ignore or report people who are talking of registering or disconnecting your phone number.
- Don’t use codes or approve transactions you do not know.
