Home Letters To The Editor Stopping mobile scams through quick action
Letters To The Editor

Stopping mobile scams through quick action

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Madam,

My son was sitting at the back of the car when I suddenly heard him talking to someone giving him instructions on his phone. It was a way to access his money through our bank’s mobile app. As soon as I heard their conversation, I immediately commanded him to shut the phone and he did.

This is a real-life story someone told to us some time ago. Facata scams. We all know what that word means and its results are very painful. It is so painful how they just clean out accounts without any kind of mercy or shame. And the truth is, it’s real, and we cannot ignore it. We have to be careful.

This story here shows us how we need to watch each other our human beings. This is especially as families, friends or relatives. We need to be concerned when we suddenly hear one of us talking to someone on the phone giving them instructions on their banking apps or accounts. We really need to be concerned. If this mother had not stopped his son, he would have sent that money over without any kind of suspicion. We too then should show much more care and concern for each other. It’s painful how victims always seem to regain their sanity after everything has been done. It is only after they have sent the money over that they seem to realise that they have been scammed. It is really sad. Whatever explanation this may have, I know only of one name and one being that can truly protect us from all this, Jesus. We need to seriously pray for God to protect us and guide us at all times.

We need to ask that He cover us with His blood, in every area of our lives, even especially in the area of our finances. Whatever it is that happens when they commit these offences is not hidden from Him. He will protect us if we invite Him to. The Bible after all does say that if we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our steps. Acts 1 v 37 also says that there is nothing impossible with Him. He is able to keep us and guide us in all things, no matter what it may be. We just have to invite Him and trust Him. Now trusting in God doesn’t mean that we should now not be mindful or careful. The warnings that we get from our banks and police are still very important.  The bank will never call you and ask for your password, whether to the ATM or any online self-service app or platform. If anyone calls about our accounts, especially reporting faults and issues that they can fix for us, we should be suspicious. We are advised to call the numbers we know are associated with that bank they say they are from and confirm if this is true. It is even better if we can just go straight to that bank, if possible. Even if someone calls about some money having mistakenly gotten into your bank or mobile money account, we have MTN and Eswatini Mobile’s numbers which we can call to verify such. We should not allow people to take advantage of our humanity just so they can carry out these crimes. Facata scams are real. They happen every day. Let us not take them lightly. They are out there, looking for their next victim, every single day. Let us do our best then to protect ourselves. How they easily make one to send all of their money, over to them, just like that, is no small matter.

Concerned

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