WASP’s sting over and over

Are you finding your airtime disappearing, or amounts being billed to your account that you can’t account for, you may have inadvertently been stung by WASP.

Since the end of 2013, South Africa’s mobile providers required premium content subscription services to go through a double opt-in process. It’s therefore, unlikely that a rogue WASP has subscribed you to its services.

However, there are WASP’s who trick mobile subscribers into opting into a subscription service.

Why is unsubscribing so complicated

I’m talking to you in particular MTN. Do you make money from these services? Do you make it challenging for the average South African on purpose?

To see whether you have been subscribed to a WASP use the following SMS or USSD codes.

Vodacom

• Send an SMS containing “STOP ALL” to 31050:
  • If you are subscribed to WASP services, you should receive the response indicating that your request to unsubscribe has been received. You should then receive messages confirming that you have been unsubscribed.
• Alternatively, dial *135#, select “Next”, then “Services”, then “Content Services”. You will then be provided with three Options: “View and Stop Content Services”, “Stop All” and either “Block” or “Unblock”. Select “Stop All” and then repeat the process and select “Block”. If you see “Unblock” instead of “Block” as an option, you have already blocked subscription services.
• To unsubscribe from Vodafone Live services, dial *117#, select “Next” and then “Unsubscribe”.
• You can also use the Vodacom App to check for subscription services. Open the App, select “More” at the bottom right, and then select “Content Services”. You will see a list of your active subscriptions or “You’re not subscribed to any content services”. To block your number, use the button at the bottom of the screen which says “Block content services”. If you have already activated a block, this will instead say “Unblock content services”.

MTN

• Block PRS (Premium Rated Services) charges
  • Dial *155#
  • Select option 0 (More)
  • Select option 4 (Block or Unblock future charges)
  • Select option 2 (Block Premium Rated service)
  • Select option 1 (Confirm)
• Block Entertainment charges
  • Dial *155#
  • Select option 0 (More)
  • Select option 4 (Block or Unblock future charges)
  • Select option 1 (Block Entertainment)
  • Select option 1 (Confirm)
• Block PRS marketing
  • Dial *155#
  • Select option 3 (Stop third party messages)
  • Now you need to read carefully, the message should say block not unblock
  • Select option 1 (Confirm)

Telkom

• Block all WASP subscriptions by enabling a setting in the Telkom app:
  • Log into the app and navigate to My Products > Manage > Protect Your Mobile Number, and set it to “On”.
  • To manage premium content subscriptions, navigate to My Products > Subscriptions > Content Services.
• Alternatively, dial 180 and follow the prompts.

Cell C

Dial *133*1# – you can the block or unblock all existing and future content billing

• https://waspa.org.za/consumer-support/losing-airtime/