Reycreo Bandits strike again.. and again .. and again

The COVID19 Lockdown already has the global population on its knees financially and along comes a gaming company called Reycreo to further rob innocent mobile phone users of their funds. My contracted call minutes are usually sufficient to last me the entire month until lockdown, when I had to purchase airtime via my online banking app. Lo and behold, 4 hours after the purchase, I get an sms from said Reycreo Bandits thanking me for my gaming subscription at R9/month. ..??..

Worse!! I bought 2 bundles so they deduct 2 subscriptions!! ***!! My obvious reaction is to contact my mobile service provider, MTN to find out how this subscription happens even though the airtime bundles were purchased via my banking app? The consultant, says she cannot see any subscription and then tries to justify the heist by saying "maybe you subscribed via the internet or signed a form giving them permission to subscribe you?" .. ***!! Apparently, mobile users have been complaining via this site and others about Reycreo for some time and yet MTN consultants are none the wiser??

I decided to investigate further by finding the Reycreo website. This company provides a gaming portal for online gamers and here's where the horror begins. Apparently, the subscription happens via the webpage and begins with selecting a country and then typing in a mobile phone number!! Both can be easily harvested from anywhere in the world via the internet. Next you select the duration of the subscription and then you are presented with a subscription button!!!

At no point prior to this did i receive any notification sms to alert me that the site was entering into a subscription process - no alert and no verification required up to this point. Beyond this point, those who have the resolve now have open passage to the funds residing on your mobile phone in the form of airtime. The first time you become aware of the transaction is when the subscription is completed and they have deducted the R9 from your account. This seemingly minuscule amount can easily be missed by someone buying larger bundles and multiply this by a few million subscribers who don't notice the transaction and we are talking about a lot of money being siphoned off mobile users' accounts!!

I am not directly pointing fingers at MTN but silence from them after so many people have been conned, speaks volumes. Are they affiliated to Reycreo? They benefit indirectly as mobile users have to fork out more everytime they purchase airtime bundles.

On the 21st April, I emailed the MTN fraud department. I have only received confirmation and a reference number so far. My opinion is that as custodians of money in the form of airtime and data credits owed to their subscribers, they should shield their subscribers from criminal intent. If banks allowed this sort of **** to proliferate in their markets they would soon be brought to justice and that's whats ordinary people want - a fair deal. Not to be ripped off when they are down!