Latest Tricks Airtel Uses In Defrauding Nigerians
3 min read
A visiting President of Norway to Nigeria once said that in Nigeria anything goes, and this may be the reason many of the multinationals in Nigeria are taking the interest of the people for granted. Happenings in the past showed situations where officials of many of these multinational companies that are supposed to be respecting the laws of the country casting such laws aside by maltreating their Nigerian staff.
The government, which always sides with the companies in the name of protecting foreign investments the multinationals represent, also gives them undue advantage over the people. And because they are getting this support, they believe they can do whatever they like on the issue of delivering better service to the people and the condition and treatment their staff. Recent investigation revealed that one of the country’s telecommunication companies may have been defrauding Nigerians of their hard earned cash through different services and products it offers.
Global News scooped that Airtel, a Global System Mobile (GSM) operator in Nigeria which can as well be said to be the operator in Nigeria that has changed its management the most times (the current owner is the sixth since it began operations about 10 years ago), has been involved in the act of charging Nigerians for services they are not rendering. It was recently discovered that the telecommunication company may have been fleecing its consumers in Nigeria of their hard earn cash through the introduction and sales of airtime vouchers that the company is yet to activate. This fraudulent practice is meant to affect those who buy vouchers of their airtime in the range of N500 and N1,000, an act that has forced many of its subscribers to unwillingly part with their money as the payments made on the vouchers are non-refundable.
It was initially believed that the recharge card fraud may be the handiwork of the same people who did such years back but from a check on the operations of those people and the way they operate, this is quite different. That time the cards sold were of all network, unlike now that it is only Airtel network. It is the belief of Tunde, a customer of the Airtel company who bought N500 denomination of such vouchers three times in one week, that the voucher or card is deliberately pushed into the market to swindle unsuspecting individuals who would have purchase the cards only to be informed in the process of loading that the card’s validity is non-existent.
Another of such fraud cases labeled against the company has to do with those using the Blackberry phone which has extra features to the normal phones. The story is that for some months now, Airtel has engaged in indiscriminate removal of people’s airtime. Many who spoke with Global News during visits to the customer care centres of the GSM company complained that for months their airtime would be removed even without making calls. Apart from this, the Blackberry subscriptions of many were suspended for no genuine reason. One of their subscribers who complained to us revealed that he has been facing the same problem for more than five months and he promised to switch to another network that will not be giving him this kind of problem.
With the way it is, and the discontentment of the people towards the service the telecom company is rendering, it seems they may be going into another round of crisis, which may come as a result of the inept way they are treating their subscribers. This is coming months after they faced a similar revolt from their call centre staff who complained of so many things about their mode of administration.
thank God my airtel line is only for receiving calls and messages. To hell with airtel and their damned network.
i had a similar experience.i loaded a tousand nair voucha 2 browse,it didn’t work 4 a micro second.i knw dey wnt go impuned.airtel wil be razed soonest!
dicovering is not enough ….. if found guilty the should be punished…
As a matter of fact, this has been going on for a while. There was a time I loaded 3000 in the night, by the following am it was gone. Every naira! I recently paid 1000 for its 100 mb but the thing did not work for one second. I simply dont bother with airtel any more. Now and then I buy 100 credit just to keep the line active! 08022335338
Airtel are big thieves.. I HATE them. They shud be investigated by the authorities. They frustrated the hell out of me in my first visit to Nigeria in four years. I’m neva gonna use Airtel when eva I visit Nigeria and I have told my friends as well..
they should stop sending unwanted messages to poeple
And also stop making unsolicited calls to customers!!!!
Airtel should be investigated. There was a time Airtel was deducting my airtime every second. I told a friend who loaded N100. Before his very eyes, the money started going down the drain. There are lots of unsolicited calls from numbers starting with 547…… I called the number and realised that money was deducted using per minute billing of N8. I have received hundreds of these 419 calls. I removed that Airtel line. When I reinserted the line weeks later Airtel pulled another fast one on me. There was a promo of new bundle for 30 days @ N500. I was excited. I activated *141*712*14# and waited. There was no response. I checked my balance. N500 had gone. There is Airtel mast in my village. But one cannot make nor receive calls from where I live. In-coming calls appear as flashing while out-going ones are always ‘line busy’, ‘congested’ or ‘not available’. At the end of the day money is deducted. Down with Airtel.
guys dont be tempted by the so called promo they offer.its 419 in making ,just use it to make calls and receive messages by loading not more than 200 naira at a time.
Please Global news, do a story on MTN too. Its fraudulent activities are worse than all other GSM networks combined together. Kudos to you for this Airtel story.
I have being using airtel for the past 4 years but have never experienced any of such irregularities, i think airtel is one of the kulest network in nigeria, with 100 i am able to make more than 6mines calls. which network offers u that?
Airtet are 419ers,they remove N2 from my airtime each time they send a message from 5020 & I have text sms to me they remove my no fro it but they wouldn’t answer.
February 27, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Airtet are 419ers,they remove N20 from my airtime each time they send a message from 5020 & I have text sms to me they remove my no fro it but they wouldn’t answer
Dear customer,
Never you subscribe to promo, adver, lotery and networks that you are not sure of. Always go for due deligence before you are parted with your money. Or pls contact NCC consumer Affairs Department any time u feel cheated.
A COMPANY THAT IS NOT LAID ON A GOOD SOIL OR ON A GOOD FOUNDATION HOW DO YOU WANT THE COMPANY TO PERFORM. SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THIS COMPANY THEY HAVE CHANGED MANAGEMENT SIX TIMES.
OUR GOVT NEED TO DO SOMETHING ON THIS ISSUE.
Dn’t you knw Indians are thieves
Etisalatiiiiiiii.
Umgh, na wa for their easyblaze data.
D thing dey finish even wey man pickin know say dem webpages no get much data.
I don keep dem modem till further notice…
Wetin
where is next cybercafe
I played one of their lotteries which they sent a text to me and the cost was 100 naira, I thought it was one off thing. The following day they sent another request which I cancelled. In my post paid account I had some money with them. When they sent me a bill I was owing them 3k. They were deducting 100 naira every day from my accouint
Since then I droped the line and so many of my friends did same.
Shame to NCC
You may not be far from the truth, my wife uses blackberry phone though its internet is not activated, Airtel periodically charges her for internet usage, when she complained to customer care services, their response was somebody is accessing her phone for internet services. I only wonder how?
has anyone of u even tried to visit any of their service centers for assistance?na wa oo!!