Prostitutes complain of losses from reversed money transfers

Posted on Apr 22, 2015 45391 Views

 
Prostitutes in downtown Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS

By NAIROBI NEWS TEAM

Prostitutes in Nairobi are grappling with the dilemma of clients who pay up using mobile money transfer services only to reverse the transactions minutes later.
This ever increasing scandal has left many of them losing thousands of shillings, even as telecommunication companies seek ways of arresting the practise.
In one particular case, Nairobi News has learnt that a client walked into a brothel in downtown Nairobi and incurred a bill of Sh 2,000.
The client promptly paid the amount through a mobile money transfer service, but minutes later called the service provider and claimed to have “sent the money to a wrong number and wanted to reverse the transaction”.
“It took me almost an hour to realise the transaction had been reversed. On calling the service provider,  they told me the sender had claimed he sent the money to a wrong number. I argued my case to the customer care guy and he promised to get back to me,” one of the call girls told Nairobi News.
She adds that it is at times hard to notice the conman’s tricks because accounts for mobile money transfers are owned by the “bureau boss”.

Such accounts handle tens of similar transactions a day.
Others who have lost money in a similar way are taxi drivers, traders in electronics and boutique owners

Read more : http://nairobinews.co.ke/city-prostitutes-incur-heavy-losses-from-reversed-money-transfers/