Skip to main content

How Safaricom clients are being robbed by PRSPs through hidden charges

The silent airtime deductions that are done by PRSPs
On Safaricom? Ever received an SMS asking you to subscribe to some service to listen to some mundane song, as if that stuff isn't available on the Internet for free?

If your answer to the above two questions is Yes, then you are probably paying your hard earned cash for that crap.


Remember that month you struggled to pay rent, or struggled to pay some medical bill, or school fee? Unlucky you, some chap somewhere is driving a Range Rover Sport 2013, which they have bought by charging you KSh. 30 every 3 or so days on your Safaricom line.

In a month, they'll charge you about Ksh. 300. They may be charging 1,000, or even 10,000 other fools like you, out of Safaricom's 18 million customers. 10,000 customers is just 0.06 percent, or 6 in every 10,000 Safaricom customers, and at KSh. 300 per month, that is just Ksh. 3 million every month.

The money is deducted quietly form your account, no text, nothing.

If you have been receiving such texts,
suggest you call Safaricom customer care
to enquire that you aren't subscribed to
the service, or use the self care
portal to confirm the same

You will only ever notice the deductions if you log into Safaricom's Self Care portal (https://selfcare.safaricom.co.ke) and go to Billing -> Recent or Unbilled Usage. Use the form provided and select a range of data to query your bill, which you can query for the last six months.

Carefully go through your records and spot anything that reads "Additional Services Charging  " with an accompanying charge of KSh. 30. <--- fellow="" highway="" is="" kenyans="" nbsp="" p="" robbery.="" that="">
Apparently, I was charged KSh. 30 on 17th of July, and again on the 15th of July and again on the 11th of July, and many other times since April.

The Safaricom customer care rep says that I subscribed to Roamtech, a so called premium rate service provider (PRSP). PRSPs are those chaps that put up adverts for ringtones, wallpapers and other cap that can be downloaded by dialling *somenumber# . They then charge you about Ksh. 10, or Ksh. 15, or Ksh. 20 or something daily, or every few days.

Half of the money PRSPs charge you goes to Safaricom for providing them with subscribers and the *something# number, known as a USSD number.

In this case, Roamtech somehow subscribed me to their service.

It's not the first time, long time ago, when I used to be on Zain, some other PRSP somehow subscribed me to their service. Then, at least, these robbers had the decency to send you a text informing you that they are robbing you of Ksh. 30 everyday. I called Zain customer care, which itself was quite a task, who then said I must have susbcribed, or someone else done so on my behalf.

Bullshit crap. I hadn't subscribed and I hadn't given out my phone either. They informed me how to unsubscribe, and duly informed me that my KSh. 30 or KSh. 60 lost could only be recovered from the PRSP. Since then, I never trusted Zain (They later sold to Airtel).

Fast forward to 2013 AD(Anno Digital), where on  hot Friday in July, I discover that Roamtech has been charging me KSh. 30 every few days. This time, they do not even have the shame to inform me that I'm being billed for every KSh. 30 deducted.

I only suspected that I was being billed when I started receiving spam from Roamtech on July 11th, first time they SMSd me from April, when they started billing me.

Safaricom customer care informed me that they could only unsubscribe me, of which I received a text informing me of the same.

Unsubscription, text received. Subscription - no text. Billing - No text. Smells of bull excreta, right?

For refunds, or to gather how I got subscribed, I had to call, or email Roamtech Robbers Limited on 0723 773869, or email them. Three calls later, chaps never pick, or return calls. Probably at some holiday resort somewhere, enjoying their hard earned cash.

The customer care rep say they cannot do anything. It's between me and Roamtech. This is the equivalent of  someone making regular, silent withdrawals on your bank account, and your bank claiming that you must have authorised the withdrawals, despite you never being informed of either the authorisation of any of the withdrawals.

And I'm not alone, as you can see from the below tweets.

Subscription through stupid adverts?
An emerging explanation is that people subscribe to these PRSPs through those adverts that you see online, especially on the Nation website (which appear not to be running now, but remember that "Aaliyah is calling" ad that mimics Skype?), that ask for your phone number. It is said that they send a text to your phone asking you to text back a confirmation. Those of us who have been victims of this high robbery are being asked if we did this.

Surprisingly, no. Of course I'm aware of such adverts, and most others who have been a victims of the scam say they have never entered their numbers online. So, unless, someone is entering our numbers on our behalf, and there are no texts either asking us to confirm our subscription. See the case below.
I recently encountered a case where someone did nothing to enter a code in any website and was subscribed. My sister-in-law who lives out of the country bought a SIM card 2 weeks ago and her airtime kept disappearing with these SMS's appearing. We went to Customer Care center at Sarit and she had to be unsubscribed from six of these short codes - and no explanation was given for a new SIM card all of a suddenly subscribing to all those services.
./Ok3ch
 It's clear that PRSPs are in some fishy business. Will Safaricom and other mobile providers just ignore as their helpless clients are "accidentally" robbed?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Humanity Hasn't Learned From the Covid Pandemic

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began ravaging the world, succeeding the 1918 flu pandemic.  Many found it unbelievable that despite all the scientific progress that the world has made since 1918, from composite jets to modern healthcare to going to the moon, the world was still susceptible to a pandemic.  Ironically, some of these advancements largely played a role in the spread of the pandemic. Thousands of global flights every hour and air conditioning fanned its spread like a dry wind would in a forest fire.  There was even further disbelief in mid-2020 when it became apparent that many countries were even struggling to keep a pandemic in check. Developed countries, supposed to have the best healthcare, suffered the worst outbreaks amidst disagreements on measures such as quarantines and wearing of masks.  In yet another twist, technology advancement finally came to our rescue with the speedy development of vaccines, including the safe pioneering of never-tried-b...
Post a Comment
Read more

WhatsApp Solution: Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup

*This method only works if you are trying to transfer WhatsApp from one phone to another, and have not deleted WhatsApp data or formatted the old phone. If you already uninstalled WhatsApp and deleted data or logged into a different number, it won't work. If you get the “Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup” when trying to restore your WhatsApp messages, trying to restore again from the same backup will probably fail. The issue seems to be caused by an issue with your backup file such as if you repeatedly tried to backup with internet connecting and disconnecting. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting Watamu

Getting to Watamu: Flight to Malindi Airport. Jambojet flies here and so do other airlines from Wilson. You'll then need a Cab to Watamu (KSh. 1,700 to KSh. 2,000 - many apps are inaccurate) or matatu just outside the airport (KSh. 100) SGR to Mombasa, then shuttle to Watamu. There are about 2 regular shuttles and they charge KSh. 1,500 to KSh. 2,000 one way  Bus to Watamu. Tahmeed and other buses operate regular schedules to Total Watamu  Drive: It's faster branching through Mariakani to Kaloleni then to Kilifi. The route through Tsavo is not any faster and has park fees. Takes 9 hours  Things to do  Beach Sunbathing : Watamu has some of the world's best beaches, with white sand. The left side from Watamu Village has a bay with shallow water during low tide,  you can wade and swim in the ocean even if you don't know how to swim! Ocean is warm in July - August but very windy. Watamu beaches have lots of seaweed but this shouldn't deter yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of fre...
Post a Comment
Read more