The violent manner with which telecommunication companies in Nigeria through their data resellers defraud data subscribers is unspeakable and should never be accepted by members of any society!
In Nigeria, conversations around corruption are only invoked with reference to public office holders. This is understandably so considering the ruinous effect that the tiniest dent of corruption amongst political office holders could have on the entire nation and its people.
Since the advent of smart phones which now empower users to make either audio or video calls on different platforms online, telecommunication companies soon realised that they could not rely on the sale of recharge cards for traditional phone calls as was the case before now. This technological shift switched the attention of telecommunication companies to data as their main selling point and this marked the beginning of monumental fraud against subscribers who purchase either mobile data or other types of data.
I purchased Airtel data from a purported Company called Data Up, a company where checks on its website revealed that it is located in Tanke, Ilorin
A Data purchase of 17gb was done on Monday April 22, 2024, many of us will expect this to last for long but unfortunately it finished on Wednesday April 24 , 2024 to my utmost anger and displeasure.
Contacts were made to the representative of the company but it seems they are trying to cut corners with the exchange I had with them
A few years ago, Elias Ezikpu on SaharaReporters explained how one of the telecommunication companies, whilst he was offline, sent him a text message notifying that he had used 75% of mobile data. Curiously, whilst still offline since the receipt of the first message, another text message came in 28 minutes later informing that he had used 100% of data bundle, forcing him to write their headquarters demanding for documentary proof detailing how the exhausted data was used whilst offline and data turned off. Of course, they refused to provide the proof that he had asked for, but decided to make baseless explanations that did not corroborate with his demands.
He said “In January of 2021, I purchased a MiFi device from another Nigerian telecommunication company, had it loaded with 20GB of data and connected it to my laptop. But in less than one hour after powering the MiFi device – a period I spent setting up my password and other information on the company’s own portal/app, 4GB of the 20GB had “vanished.” I reached out to the company’s customer care to protest the the magical depletion of my data, but the agent who attended to me defended the fraud, saying that the depletion was “normal.”
Dissatisfied, I reported the fraud to the Consumer Care section of Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC], who promptly called on the company to address the matter. Although the telecommunication company later contacted me, they spent the entire time defending the fraud.
It is therefore laughable how telecommunication companies in Nigeria defend their fraud by blaming it on auto update applications on mobile phones, video streaming and several others. But over the years, these excuses and similar others have served as nothing but defensive mechanisms behind which these companies hide to effect their fraud. Mobile data in Nigeria disappear even when background applications are firmly restricted and regardless of whether or not the user watches videos online.
A week ago or so, another victim of telecommunication fraud in Nigeria informed this writer that she purchased 5GB of mobile data and used it only on WhatsApp. However, the data got exhausted within two days, during which she only read and replied messages on the messaging platform! I have also explained how mine got exhausted from 75% to 100% whilst I was offline with the data toggle turned off.
Back to the data reselling fraud of a company called Data up, It will be very difficult to allay the fear that this company is deals with sending fake data messages to its customers and charging humongous amounts for their services.
Contacts have been made to relevant agencies like Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC] NCC, Corporate Affairs Commission CAC to report this fraud of a company called Data Up
Sahara Reporters
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