The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has taken its sensitization campaign against fraud to the popular spare parts market, Gate, Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
The campaign, tagged ‘shine your eyes, no fall mugu’ is aimed at educating telecom consumers on how to protect themselves against fraudsters who are continuously evolving in their schemes to defraud them.
The event, which was attended by leaders of the market and traders, had resource persons from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Public Complaints Commission educate telecom consumers on how to spot fraudsters who call to demand their bank account details and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card numbers and pin.
Ayobanji Ojo, Head of the Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, explained that the event was organized because “the market people are our telecom consumers. Without them, we will not exist as a regulator. The market people deserve to know what is going on.”
He further explained that the ‘shine your eyes, no fall mugu’ theme “means there are so many financial transactions going on through the telecom space, and we want to educate our people, particularly the traders because many of them are vulnerable to what is going on in the telecom space.”
He regretted that there have been complaints from people who have lost money to fraudsters who call them, claiming to be from their banks, and request their ATM card numbers and transaction pins.
“We are now working for the sustainability of the telecom industry, and if we cannot sustain the telecom consumers, there is nothing we can do. Over 20,000 Nigerians have complained of being defrauded in recent months.
“Another issue we are fighting is the issue of loan sharks getting the phone numbers of people and calling them to complain about their compatriots borrowing money. We are trying to protect Nigerians from this kind of issue. And to protect people, you have to educate them. When people have information, they are protected”, he said.
On the persistent complaint about the services of telecom companies, he explained that “most of the time, it’s not as if the telecom companies are cheating customers. Sometimes, the customers are the ones who activate the services for which they are billed.
“We advise consumers to go to their service providers if they have any issues. If the service provider cannot resolve the complaint, they should call 622, which is a toll-free line.”
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