via Editorial Comment: Safeguard clients against SMS crimes | The Herald January 21, 2015
LATELY, unsuspecting Zimbabweans have fallen victim to a spate of scam mail requesting them to pay money before they claim otherwise non-existent prizes.
This is a worrying development which calls for stringent regulation and monitoring to stop criminals taking advantage of the convenience of mobile phone-based money transfer platforms to fleece people.
The latest trick, as reported in our paper yesterday, saw the victims receiving mobile text messages informing them that they had won cash vouchers for US$1 000. They were then each asked to send US$10 through a mobile payment platform to claim the prize. Eventually they realised they had been duped upon parting with the money.
This is not the first time these platforms have been abused in such a manner.
Last year we carried a report of a man who was extorting money from unsuspecting people in the name of prominent politicians. He even managed to register the numbers that he was using in the names of the politicians he purported to be representing. In other cases, people have been conned into paying money for supposed job interviews through mobile platforms, only to discover later that they were scammed.
The strict requirement for documentation when one buys a mobile phone line and registers for mobile banking should not be a paper rule, but strictly enforced. While we appreciate that the attraction of the system is its simplicity, we believe that there are ways of marrying that convenience to security to instil confidence in clients.
At the moment, it is easy for criminals to circumvent the system and buy lines on the street which are not registered in their names.
But when it comes to withdrawing the cash from any agent, it should be easy to ensure that the person is using identity documents that bear their name.
The apparent ease with which the con artists seem to use these platforms without being caught suggests an element of connivance by some agents in the scams.
Are they really demanding to see IDs for every transaction as they must, or are they lax and selective in their approach?
We believe that if an agent allows a dubious withdrawal the network should make that agent liable for the amount so prejudiced unless the agent can prove that they exercised due diligence to prevent criminal activity.
That will teach agents to be cautious and do every transaction by the book.
On the other hand we cannot ignore the responsibility of the individual in being cautious and exercising scepticism before sending over money to persons unknown, sight unseen. In the case we carried yesterday, people in Harare were led to believe that they had won cash vouchers from Spar Beitbridge!
Why would a supermarket that you have never patronised reward you out of the blue? Surely that should be illogical to any person who stops to assess the situation unless they coincidentally have been to the shop in question and left their contact details there.
And why should someone who wants to give you money ask you to pay first instead of just deducting the costs from the amount due to you before handing over the balance?
It is said that scams succeed only because of the greed or lack of foresight on the part of the victims.
The temptation to reap where you have not sown almost always proves disastrous.
But it is also the duty of the mobile phone operators to safeguard the interests of their clients.
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