Ugandans warned against electricity con men

Con men are always coming up with new ways to rip off the gullible. The latest is a scam purporting to get customers many yaka units for a fraction of the cost.

Your Journey to be conned begins with seeing many posters placed on several streets in Kampala and the neighborhood reading in bold letters (YAKA/UMEME TRICK 200 UNITS AT 25,000/= ONLY 0702029559.)

When you get tempted to call the number, one man who calls himself Anatooli Bakyenga speaks kindly to you.

"Please send your Yaka number, if we verify it, you will send us 10,000 as deposit and we send you the token, in case you load it and it works, you will have to send us our balance of 15,000. We don't give tokens beyond 200 units because your account will get problems."

According to UMEME media manager Stephen Illungole, Many have been conned in this form, the company knows about the fraud and it has been trying to track them down since last year though it's quite complicated to get them because they always want to deal on phones.

He explained that the public needs to be informed that Yaka Units are meter specific, meaning that some one cannot load units that have been generated for another meter, "they are not like mobile airtime where the recharge cards can be used on any phone number" he said.

Illungole also said that all units and tokens are generated by UMEME IT team and it's not possible whatsoever that any cyber attack can be done to the system by the conmen who claim to have cheap units.

"The public should distance themselves from such schemers and we are doing everything possible to hold them accountable for the posters on the streets" He added.

In our attempted transaction with conmen, they had more than one plan of extracting money from us without meeting us physically.

They speak with a kind voice, even promises to call back using their own airtime which promise they fulfill, and if plan 'A' (Sending him 25,000/= via mobile money before he sends you the token) fails, they change to plan 'B' (Cutting the amount to 10,000)

In Plan 'B' they claim that at 10,000, they will send you the token, if you load it and get the 200 units, you will then send their balance of 15,000.

On this note, Illungole says gullible customers will think that the conman is a kind man who trusts other people who are not physically known to them, to the extent of giving them an expensive service without paying them fully.