The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has discovered that a seemingly syndicated group is on the prowl to scam the unsuspecting public, particularly millions of Nigerian telecom consumers, taking advantage of the generosity of David Adedeji Adeleke, widely known as Davido.
The Nigerian-American music star, songwriter and producer recently announced that he would donate 250 million naira to various orphanages in Nigeria.
Taking advantage of Davido’s benevolence, a group of scammers launched an infomercial titled “Davido Airtime and Data Giveaway,” which went viral, claiming that Davido is “giving away 5K Airtime and 10GB of internet data from all networks for free” to celebrate his birthday.
In the infomercial, the general public is urged to hurry up and get the giveaway by clicking on the links that allegedly redirects them to the websites, where they are credited airtime and data.
This is a scam, warned the NCC.
“The NCC wishes to advise our many telecommunications consumers not to have anything to do with the advertisement or any similar hoax. Ads are what they are: social engineering scams designed to obtain people’s MSISDN and other information that scammers can later use to defraud unsuspecting telecom consumers and the general public.
”For clarity, the MSISDN is simply the full phone number of a cell phone, plus other protocol information. This number is unique and identifies subscribers / owners on a GSM or other mobile networks. So, suffice it to state that any unscrupulous person or unethical hacker can use the number and the corresponding protocol to undermine the privacy of the actual owners of the number through identity theft and other scams.
“The NCC therefore reiterates its previous warning to telecom consumers to be cautious and not let their guard down. If a promotion or an offer seems too good to be true, it is probably not true.
“The Commission will not rest on its oars to empower telecommunications consumers with the information and education necessary to protect them from cybercriminals determined to use telecommunications platforms to perpetrate fraud.
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