The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has cautioned members of the public on the fraudulent activities of those it described as loan sharks.
This is as the commission said it had received more than 20,000 complaints from those who have fallen victim to the sharp practices of online fraudsters.
The commission’s Head of Consumers Affairs Bureau, Mr. Ayanbanji Ojo, made the disclosure during a telecom consumers sensitisation programme themed “Shine Your Eyes- No Fall Mugu,” held at the spare parts market, Agodi-Gate, Ibadan.
Noting the need to educate the people on the financial fraud going on in the telecom space, Ojo said the activities of the loan sharks have caused a lot of people pain with many traders vulnerable to what is going on.
He enjoined telecom consumers to approach their service providers to resolve their complaints, adding that if they are unable to resolve it, they should approach the commission by dialing 622 which is toll-free.
He said: “The market people are our telecom consumers. Without them, we cannot exist as a regulator. The market people deserve to know what is going on.
“Today’s programme is different from what we did at Bodija and the University of Ibadan. Today we are talking about ‘Shine-your-eyes’, which means there are so many financial frauds going on through the telecom and we want to educate our people, particularly the traders because most of them are vulnerable to what is going on in the telecom space.
“There have been so many complaints on the loss of money, so we need to educate our consumers all the time because we are now in the sustainability of telecommunications industry, and if we do not sustain the telecom consumers, there is nothing we cannot do.
“The complaints we have received so far are over 20,000. Even this money the loan shark saying a person on your contact list collected loan, how did they get your number? This is the kind of things we are trying to avoid and to protect people, we have to educate them. So when people have information, they are protected”.
Ojo advised the traders to use strong passwords in emails, private networking platforms and avoid clicking on any link to avoid theft.
In his remarks, the President of Ibadan Motor Parts Dealers Association, Olanrewaju Ishola thanked the commission for bringing such an educative programme to the market.
He said market men and women were glad to receive the commission, adding that the programme was helpful and educative.
