Congratulations, it’s a scam!
A Witsie was conned into buying R180 airtime which was meant to activate her ticket to win thousands of rands.
A week after she registered her new SIM-card, she received an SMS saying she had won money from Rica.
“Congratulations! Your number won R250.000 from Nokia-Rica promotions. Ticket no 0166,” read the SMS.
Excitedly she called the number to claim her prize. A man asked her to transfer the airtime to his number to “activate the ticket”. After hours of waiting she called but the cell phone was off.
“I feel so stupid and embarrassed, I guess it’s the love of money,” said the first year engineering student who asked not to be named.
She said she did not want to open a case but she had learnt her lesson.
MTN telephone operator, Zoliswa Nojilana, confirmed the number was registered but said the service provider could not trace the owner or where the airtime voucher was used.
“It’s a scam and the only way to find out is through the police,” said Nojilana.
Warrant Officer Maleka Chauke, from the Hillbrow police station, said the student could open a case of theft under false pretences but it would be difficult to trace the suspect.
“The suspect is unknown, that’s why it’s hard but we can’t investigate if there is no case,” said Chauke.
Wits Vuvuzela called the number from the university. The call was answered by a man who asked where the call was from. He then quickly said he couldn’t accept private numbers.
“We don’t have an office number, give me your numbers,” said the man.
A few hours later this student received another SMS which said the number had won R120, 000.
“It’s unclear how they get the numbers but customers must be cautious of such texts. Our competitions are advertised everywhere so people would know,” said Nojilana.
