Networks are not perfect and sometimes glitches happen where the system fails to operate normally. Sometimes, these glitches lead to people taking advantage of the loopholes created and this next incident is no surprise.
Today, Kenyans are reporting on social media that they have been able to take advantage of a glitch on Safaricom’s services and obtained a lot of data.
The problem was centered around the bonga points system which you can use to buy data from. Thanks to this glitch, people were able to repeatedly buy data bundles for their lines for free.
Apparently when you used the USSD menu for data (*544#), you were able to get free data bundles via the ‘Platinum’ menu using ‘free’ bonga points.
Go and buy Monthly bundles via bonga points…Safaricom is experiencing a glitch pic.twitter.com/9tZGv1Uwat
— Latiph◾ (@latiphyarrow) June 28, 2019
Some people managed to get so much data and minutes by taking advantage of this glitch.
https://twitter.com/youngescoerick/status/1144492729289719808
I hope y'all did to Safaricom what they do to us daily … before they mended their systems. Now I'm a hotspot😂😂😂#SafaricomSystemsDown #SafaricomFreeStuff pic.twitter.com/YyEU9zxyqT
— 🇰🇪 Mr Man (@its_nduati) June 28, 2019
@Safaricom_Care Please repeat after me, this is the Day that the Lord has made😂 pic.twitter.com/NAQ7noIrs7
— DnD Gifts (@dnd_gifts) June 28, 2019
Some almost have a terabyte of free WhatsApp!
https://twitter.com/MghosiD/status/1144490915890786304
Well, Safaricom seems to have noticed the problem. If you dial *544# and click on the ‘Platinum’ option, it times out, which means that Safaricom has pulled down the service in a bid to rectify the problem.
In a bid to rectify the problem and prevent a certain loss of revenue, you can be sure that Safaricom will find a way to reset the perpetrator’s account data balances to where they were before.
Safaricom is yet to issue a statement about the genesis of the problem and the way forward to deal with the data and minutes people obtained today for free. We will update you on that when we get one.
