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By Stephen Ojang in Wum.

"Mobile Money: you have received CFA56,500 from Achiri Solange (237 677 62 09 53) on 2018-11-23. 10 : 13 :31. Transaction Id: 445749491. Reference: 00000. New balance:...FCFA”.

This message  looks like an ordinary mobile money transfer notification, but it isn’t. Actually it’s a scam.

It is sent on purpose by a scammer. Just after the message is sent, he or she calls the recipient saying he/she just transferred money by mistake, and the recipient should send the sum back. No vigilant victims could fall into the trap.

Populations were previously victims of another scam in which perpetrators sent SMS announcing the recipient won a contest and should provide their Mobile Money secret code. At that time also, many victims fell into the trap.

 These fraudsters have recently derived a new form of  scam that consists of withdrawing money from customers' accounts. It is no news that people will receive notifications that they should confirm withdrawals they did not initiate.

Many people had fallen into the machiavelic machinery of these smart fellows. After so many complaints from her customers, MTN Cameroon sensitized them through messages, circulated to create awareness.

Many have fallen victim of this scam for various reasons. To the fraudsters, their deals are always easy. The pretext: winning an offer, a bonus or a trip .

Beware of some practices: Most scam messages are emitted from MTN and Orange mobile phone numbers, as if it were SMS from Orange Cameroon or MTN Cameroon.

Here are some tips on how to save your mobile money accounts.

How to report an unwanted message

As soon as you receive an unwanted SMS on your mobile, you can report it in a few seconds by calling customer service at 950 for Orange Cameroon and 8123 for MTN Cameroon. 

What to report a scam message to 950 ?

When you report a scam message to the above numbers, it is sent to the concerned Direction that will take various actions.

Many will argue that they posted a scam message and still get SMS scams!

It would appear that when you report a scam message, processing this message requires action that can take time. Nevertheless, there has always been no follow-up to these different messages.

 This is an example of scam sms 

"ORANGE !!! PROMO !!! PRIME !!! dear customer saw your consumption during the year '' 2015''2016 '' your number has been chosen by lot, Of a sum of [400.000frs] please call the standard number: [694333541] to remove it."


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