The Nigerian  Communication Commission (NCC) was on September 9 petitioned over alleged fraudulent acts by the Global System for Mobile communication, GSM, companies particularly, the South-African telecommunication giant, MTN Nigeria. In a letter to the Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar GarbaDanbatta, the petitioner, Mr Carl Umegboro, a lawyer and public affairs analyst lambasted the GSM company over copious fraudulent flash messages from the network strategically automated to forcefully siphon money from their vulnerable subscribers with sundry deductions in disguise of service subscriptions.
“Often, we and I, in particular receive uncountable network posts from the GSM networks especially MTN introducing one subscribing service or the other but will always end with, “To Subscribe, click OK” instead of providing codes or numbers for interested subscribers”.
“The moment your hand touches the handset especially those programmed to accept OK by touch of any button, monetary deductions will commence. Worse, some of the subscriptions are on daily, weekly and bi-monthly basis. Or if you click ‘OK’ for the message to disappear from your screen, you’re activated to the subscription. Is this not MMM re-branded? Imagine where such posts are sent to fifty million subscribers and N50 or N100 or whatever amounts are deducted, I leave the calculations for you”.
“It therefore implies that even if your hand touches your handset mistakenly or while in the pocket or with a child, the ‘OK’ programmed after the posts will be activated against you with deductions as a bona fide subscriber to the unsolicited messages until you detect and complain”.