By Edwin Uhara
The havocs wrecked on the society by online scammers is becoming unbearable these days.
Right now, there are scammers on all the social media platforms constantly looking for who to make a victim.
The type of creative thinking these folks deploy in furtherance of their activities is highly sophisticated that only the grace of God can prevent one from becoming a victim.
I used to think that it’s only greedy people that fall for the antics of these guys, but recent developments have shown that these guys are constantly upgrading their levels. In fact, they are more than what the society thinks and feels about them.
Until now, the popular belief is that WhatsApp is among the safest online platforms because it works with numbers — you must have the phone number of the other person before communication can take place but recent experience have proven otherwise.
Just a few days ago, somebody called me on WhatsApp and said there would be a Zoom meeting where the state of the nation would be discussed by 8:pm.
He said, he had sent me a code number and that I should send him the number for him to confirm my participation, but I bluntly told him I was not interested and he started preaching to me on how he has been following my comments on a particular WhatsApp forum and how he wanted me to participate.
But little did I know that it was God that saved me because I would have lost access to my WhatsApp account completely.
I later discovered that the so-called zoom code sent to me was an attempt to hack my account but WhatsApp had to send me a code number to confirm whether the changes emanated from me.
If I had sent the code in the name of zoom meeting, he would have succeeded in his failed attempt to hack my account.
Few days later, I started seeing different kind of postings soliciting for fund for charity on that WhatsApp forum and I called the administrator and he said that his account was hacked.
In the same vein, the account of other persons on the same platform was also hacked.
One day, I got a message with the number of a former Senate President who is also a member of the WhatsApp group asking me to do him a favour and I said in my heart what type favour will a hustler like me offer to a former number three citizen of the country?
While I was contemplating on that, a Rhema dropped in my spirit telling me that the number of the former Senate President was hacked and that I was dealing with a scammer but I should play along.
So, I asked the impersonator what kind of favour? He said his secretary was not around and that he just ordered for something and payment needed to be made ASAP.
I asked how much so that I would help? He said N15 million. I asked him to send me the account number and he did.
I checked the account and I discovered that it was a microfinance bank outside Abuja. At this point, I discontinued with the chat and blocked the number.
After the blocking, I started asking myself some questions. I said if the phone number of a former Senate President could be hacked easily and be used for defrauding unsuspecting members of the public, what would be the fate of the ordinary Nigerian who don’t have access to any security agency where he could ask for help?
The truth is that nobody is above temptation, let alone sophisticated temptation of this magnitude. But when such temptation comes, what buffer zone do we have to technologically protect the citizens?
The other day, I got a spam mail in my email box telling me this: “Greetings to you My dear friend.
I am Jimmy Tamara, I hope this mail finds you in good health. I sent you an email a couple of days ago to help me receive a sum of (Five Million Eight Hundred and Sixty Thousand Dollars). Please get back to me because it is urgent. 100% legitimate, and of mutual benefit to both parties.”
The antics of these scammers keep changing as the people become more familiar with their tricks.
This is not to talk about the mindless hacking going on in the banking sector where alot of Nigerians have lost their fortunes.
The banking industry is actually trying by constantly upgrading to new technologies, but they should do more to protect their customers.
Also, the telecommunication industry should not only be concerned about the NIN but the players of the sector should up the ante to contain some shortcomings.
Their current practice of reassigning certain phone numbers used by a particular subscriber should also imbibe some security measures because scammers are using it to impersonate the former owner so that they can defraud their ‘MAGA.’
At least, before the reassigning of the used SIM Card would take place, it should be advertised so that the public will be aware of the changes.
Therefore, as we approach the Yuletide season, Nigerians should be very careful on how they do some things in order to avoid playing in to the hands of these guys.
Comrade Edwin Uhara is a Public Affairs Commentator