Have you ever received a suspicious call or message from a fraudster who poses as a police officer or bank staff, trying to get money from you?
If one thinks this is a joke then here is the true story from one of the victims, a senior staffer with this group of newspapers (name withheld) who was going to lose hundreds of thousands of shillings after members of such a group contacted him, asking for money to release his wife purportedly being held at the police station.
According to him, the fraudster identifying himself as a police officer by the name of Frank sent a short message through a mobile phone owned by the staffer’s wife, asking him to send Sh150,000 so that the police would release the wife after she was detained by the police.
However, the victim said he refused to send the money to the fraudster believing that the person was trying to trick him so that he could get money easily.
After a few minutes, the swindler called him again through a new mobile phone number, ordering him to send at least half of the requested amount, but the targeted victim maintained his stand of not sending the money.
“After a long discussion with him the culprit cut off the phone. However, a few hours later my wife called me but when I asked what happened to her, she said that she had not used her mobile phone for hours and she also refuted the report that she was at the police station at the time I received the message,” he said.
It was not immediately established how the conman got and used the mobile phone number of the staffer’s wife to send the message to her husband, ordering him to send money to him( conman).
Observations made by The Guardian on Sunday this week have revealed that there are complaints from victims of fraudsters stealing basic personal details from bank accounts, mobile phone numbers or the mobile banking system, leaving victims fighting to save their credit records.
Hundreds of people around the country have been targeted by criminals posing as bank staff or police officers.
A city resident who applied for a job in a private company received suspect calls and short messages asking for money so that the person, also identified by the name Frank, could help her get a job.
Catherine John (not her real name) recently applied for a job through an online directory ZOOM Tanzania as a Public Relation Officer (PRO) at Clover Industry Limited.
A few days after, she was surprised to receive a message from a man known as Frank who claimed at that time to be in the process of reviewing application letters and candidate credentials for the post.
Frank promised to assist Catherine in getting the job after she transfers the first installment of Sh40,000 through Tigo Pesa before 5pm to the same number. He said the money would l help him smooth the path to one of the judges and disclose some interview questions to Catherine.
Frank promised Catherine a job and thereafter she would have to transfer again 400,000 shillings from the first salary payment of one million shillings that she would have earned after being employed, to express gratitude. Before she could transfer the money, Catherine was warned by a friend who recalled to have encountered a similar situation.
This left the two with the question as to how Frank managed to know that Catherine had applied for a PRO post at Clove Industry, and how he managed to get Catherine’s contacts.
Another victim, Janeth Andrew said that crimes involving fraud continue to be a major problem facing people in various walks of life.
She said that she was among victims conned by a fraudster who sent a short message requesting her to send some money so that she can be linked to an international modeling agency working with well-known fashion designers.
Ms Andrew says the culprits asked her to send Sh100,000 so that they can process her details and send them to South Africa-based modeling agency.
“As I love this career I was convinced that they would help me to work with this international agency but after I sent the money the fraudsters disappeared and their phone was unavailable until today,” she said.
According to Ms Andrew, the fraudster was very convincing that they will link her with the former Miss Tanzania Happiness Magese, a popular stylist whom the modeling agency has worked with.
The Tigo mobile service provider public relations officer John Wanyancha said he would follow up the reported matter and identify the culprits, and provide feedback to the media in due course.
This paper contacted the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority Director General Prof. John Nkoma, who claimed that telecommunication services had grown very fast and people are using that loophole to steal money from unsuspecting customers.
He said TCRA’s duty as a regulator is to oversee and monitor mobile operator services and not to deal with cybercrime.
“What should be taken are measures to end this problem. There is a need to educate the community on the usage of this technology as well as the need for people to follow regulations and law in order not to fall victim to cyber criminals,” he said.
He said cybercrime is like any other offence is handled by the police and not TCRA as the authority only issues licenses to the service providers.
If a mobile phone company goes against regulations, legal procedures will be taken, he said.
TCRA corporate communications manager Innocent Mungy said the authority does not have the mandate to control mobile phone fraudsters since all criminal cases are handled by the police.
The police have a cyber crime unit which deals with internet hackers, swindlers and all cases of cybercrime reported by the victims.
“It’s very hard for individuals who have been conned by swindlers to get details of the culprits from mobile phone operators. Only the police have the mandate to access such kind of information through their investigation desks,” he said.
It is important for customers to be careful in handling their sensitive details such as Personal Identification Number (PIN) to protect their mobile phones against unauthorised access and to report infringements to the police when a person receives a call or message from swindlers asking for money. The Bank of Tanzania has recently stated the need for an Electronic Transactions Act that would seek to provide a legal framework for financial electronic transactions not provided for under the Penal Code.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu said the police have no control over cyber crime, despite that stakeholders like TCRA wish the police to exert control in that direction.
“The responsibility to control and prevent cyber crime lies in the hand of the mobile phone companies and TCRA where they can control and regulate fraud committed through communication devices,” the police chief intoned.
Police officers can only intervene once the victim has reported the incident to the police for legal pursuits, he pointed out.
“Thereafter police officers in collaboration with mobile phone companies can conduct investigations and apprehend the criminals and bring them to police custody,” he further stated.
The police had so far not apprehended cyber crime operatives who were once mobile company staffers, the IGP added.
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