wasps: how to stop a

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Here’s how you can stop dodgy mobile services from stealing your artime

Many unsuspecting South Africans have fallen victim to wireless application service providers (WASP), which bill users without their consent or knowledge. Here’s how you can stop them from stealing your airtime.

wasps: how to stop a

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Chances are, you have uploaded airtime which soon disappeared without you using it, and were left wondering where it went. That’s before likely having a go at your network provider after being made aware that you will not get a refund.

Many unsuspecting South Africans have fallen victim to wireless application service providers (WASP), which bill users without their consent or knowledge.

Read: Local billionaire takes on Vodacom over “out of bundle charges”

How network providers are dealing with WASPs

The issue of disappearing airtime as a result of WASPs has existed for years, and the mobile network providers have reacted to this by putting measures in place to prevent this from happening.

By 2013 all of the country’s network providers had introduced a “double opt-in” system which gave the subscriber the ability to confirm any subscription to any service.

However, it has not been exactly airtight as some fraudulent companies have found a way to bypass this measure and continue scamming more unsuspecting consumers.

How can you stop your airtime from disappearing?

South Africa’s main mobile network providers all provide their customers with a way to block WASPs and stop your airtime from disappearing.

The means in which you can stop premium content services on your phone, differ from provider to provider.

Telkom

Here you will have to download the Telkom app to block WASPs on your phone.

Once in the app, tap My Products > Manage > Protect Your Mobile Number, and set the setting to “On”.

Vodacom

For Vodacom users, it’s as easy as SMSing “STOP ALL” to 31050, where once your request has been processed, the network will revoke access to all premium content services.

It’s also possible to block all future WASP subscriptions by calling customer care. Just dial 135.

MTN

You can check if you are subscribed to any WASPs by dialling each of four USSD strings on MTN.

  • *136*5#
  • *464*970#
  • *156*12#
  • *123*10#

To block premium content services on your phone, dial *136*5#, select Content Services > Manage Premium Rated Services > PRS Charges > Block PRS Charges, and voila!

Cell C

To block all current and future content billing on Cell C, simply dial *133*1#.