Yesterday 15th July I received a message from Telephone Number +255764848389 that read like this: You have won Kshs.100,000/- plus Nokia 6230i. Call us on 0729-999999 or 0728-540841 www.safaricom.co.ke. That was such a coincidence because just the previous night I had watched a shocking confession from an inmate who claimed that he had made Kshs.12Million, bought a 32 acre piece of land and 3 matatus all with proceeds from the above SMS con game.
When I received the message, I knew it was one of those but I decided to call the number provided just for the kicks. The guy said that he was at the Safaricom Headquarters and that I had indeed won the said prizes. I asked him what I had done to win since I had not taken part in any Safaricom contest and he said that my phone number had just been picked at random by their computers. I had quite a number of questions for the conman – what a nice way to satisfy my curiosity and have a good laugh while at it. We actually conversed for about 2 minutes. It went something like this – in Swahili though:
- What have I done to win this money and phone? You don’t have to have done anything. Your number was picked at random by our computers.
- Is Safaricom running a secret contest or do their systems just periodically pick on lucky numbers? You’re just lucky that your number has been picked.
- Are you aware of the prisons con game that is under investigation? Yes but this is different. I’m calling from Safaricom headquarters.
- How come you’re using a different number from the one used by Safaricom to notify it’s winners? Sometimes Safaricom assigns different numbers for different purposes.
- How come the initial message came from a Tanzanian number? Safaricom headquarters can use any number within the roaming area.
- When you win something from Safaricom or any other company, do they really ask you to call them or are they the ones who call you? They get in touch with you.
- So what do you want now? I send you Kshs.2000/- worth of airtime? No just give me your full name and ID number so I can send you your prize money and the Nokia.
By this time he sounded like he was beginning to get worked up. Me I was having some dangerous fun although I started getting scared at some point. What if these are actually the police doing investigations? What if he’s able to trace my number like in the movies? What if my number is now a marked one? Anyway, when he asked for my full names and ID number I was done with the freak and disconnected the call.
Seriously our prisons are fast becoming money making institutions. It seems being locked up does not make a difference to these criminals as far as getting rich is concerned. Even at the height of investigations into the cell phones saga, and despite the nabbing of over 350 cell phones and assorted SIM cards by police the game is still going on.
Can the prison authorities explain how so many cell phones land in the cells in maximum security prisons?
11 Comments:
this guys just dont stop!even when you bust them, they continue on!nice post and i like the way you responded to the con artist
Nairobian I had a good time believe me. and my workmates were right here suggesting questions. Ask him this ask him that.
Believe me you are just lucky and courageous to call back a conman, these guys, I mean conmen, are just too canny to talk to. The more you chat with them the more you are trapped in their “good deals”.
Your current post reminds of another article “to catch a conman” written by a courageous NBC reporter who goes on hunt for international con men . See link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17697615/
You must have the patience of 100 people to talk to him. By the number of 'competitions I have won' by now I'm definately a virtual millionaire.
Well, the last time I spoke to a conman was during the campaigns. He was so convincing he is now in Parliament. Just like the other 209 or others.
Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil…one of the top ten known conmen in the world says:
“The desire to get something for nothing has been very costly to many people who have dealt with me and with other con men, but I have found that this is the way it works. The average person, in my estimation, is ninety-nine per cent animal and one per cent human. The ninety-nine per cent that is animal causes very little trouble. But the one per cent that is human causes all our woes. When people learn — as I doubt they will — that they can’t get something for nothing, crime will diminish and we shall live in greater harmony.” Could this be true?
hehehehehe Our Kid. Too bad we have a bunch of them as leaders.
But these prison ones seem to be making so much cash. Unless that guy on telly was lying that he has made 12m so far?
BP thanks for the links. I've finally managed to read through that con game. Ati
“My name is Mrs Maryam Ibrahim,...{I am} suffering from long time cancer of the breast...Before my late husband died {he} deposited the sum of 20 million dollars ..20% of this money will be for your time and effort...”
bla bla bla. These E-mail were so many some time back. Are they still sending?
Believe me Shiko….this what I have received today..
Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:23 AM
From:
Abdullah Mariam
With Due respect
I humbly write to solicit for your partnership and assistance in the transfer and investment of my inheritance fund USD$17.5M from my late father who died mysteriously last Dec.
It was very evident that he was poisoned to death. In my culture, when a man dies, if he does not have a male child, the brothers shares his property leaving both the wife and the daughters empty handed including the house they live in. This is the exact case with me as I am the only daughter of my father. I lost my mother when I was barely a year old and my father refused to re-marry another wife because he felt solely responsible for my mother's death…………..”
..West Africans!!! they have mastered this game...I wounder, when will they stop?
BP and this Mariam I'm sure wanted you to give your full details so that she may channel the money through your account and then she'd give you a good share of it. so predictable.
These con men will never stop as long as there are people still falling for their scams.
There is also this new one which to me was very hilarious
"To make free calls from 10.00pm to 7.00am daily and send unlimited SMSs, dial *140*80*0729999999#. Promotion runs from April 3rd to 31st August 2008. Safaricom The Better Option!"
I LMAO reading that mpaka I edited the phone number provided and put mine, forwarded to friends I could play! Some replies came in, "Ngombe wewe!" "Nice try" "You have received some KES 80 ......" Am not sure whether the sequence of *140*..... is right but I hope the message is home!
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