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 SMS contest fiasco exposed
    June 24 2009 at 06:45AM Get IOL on your
mobile at m.iol.co.za

By Angelique Serrao

What are the odds? This question is particularly pertinent for a quiz-based competition run by MTN where winners, it is alleged, know exactly how many smses to send in order to win a vehicle.

The MTN15 competition was run to celebrate the company's 15th birthday, and users were asked to subscribe to the competition at R7,50 an sms. The person who sends in the most correct-answer smses can win laptops, a car and finally a R1-million house bond.

According to a source, whose identity is known to The Star, winners who have walked away with a Toyota Fortuner knew exactly how many smses they needed to send to win the vehicle. MTN has denied the allegations.
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'This competition is clean and is valuable to our customers'
MTN SA general manager Donovan Smith said they viewed the matter raised by The Star in a very serious light and had commissioned a forensic investigation to investigate the matter and audit the competition.

"In our audit, all areas came out clean," said Smith. "This competition is clean and is valuable to our customers, and as such we have no reason to consider removing it."

The source said he was in a public place when he overheard an acquaintance talking on a Friday about how he was going to win a car that Sunday. The man told a group of people that someone had given him the source code and he was able to see people's rankings on a URL, so he knew how many smses he needed to send to win.

He knew he was 60 000 points ahead of other competitors. The man also said the previous winners knew each other and had shared the information.

The man spent R50 000 to win the R375 700 Toyota Fortuner. He won the car that Sunday.

'They didn't lock up the source code - so outsiders could see it'
"When I heard, I started to look into the competition, and many of the winners did seem to be linked," said the source.

"I thought the whole thing was unethical.


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Showing page 1 of 4 comment pages, 36 total comments
32 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
we do have to make allowances for the fact that this was contracted to an outside company to develop the facility to MTN. So the "slip up" could have happened from that company. This URL was probably a way to pull info out of the database of people that entered.

Saying this, MTN should know how to secure their system !
33 Weeks ago disgusted wrote :
I want my money back. I think someone should force MTN to give our money back. I chalked up thousands of points when I did not win anything I said to myself there is something fishy going on and stopped. I am even going to switch my service provider. I subscribed with MTN since its inception.
33 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Why stop contracts or file a fraud complaint, everyone is out there to mess us Humans around. it is wrong what happened but it has happened before. it is a chance all participants should be willing to take. MTN cannot be held responsible when they have criminals working for them. People do not know criminals until certain things happen. Maybe this will be a lesson learnt to all.
33 Weeks ago Ben Smith wrote :
I have taken part in the competition and will lay a formal complaint with my local police station with regard to Fraud. I urge all other contestants to do the same until we are refunded and action is taken against the directors of MTN in terms of their fiduciary responsibilities as governed by the companies act..
33 Weeks ago Fed-up wrote :
MTN, where on earth are your morals? Making money out of unsuspecting customers (in this economic climate) in the name of giving them an opportunity to win big prizes!!! I have been an MTN customer for a number of years too, and this year alone, I have heard a number of experiences that have resulted in me hating the company! I just can't wait for my contract to expire next year! I found the fact that I had to send an sms, at normal rates, to stop receiving text messages promoting the competition greatly disgusting! Especially so, since I never subscribed to the nuisance sms's in the first place. Another way for MTN to score big bucks I suppose! Never took part in the competition; I actually 'unsubscribed' immediately after receiving the first promotional sms. I just couldn't stop asking myself what winning a R1m BOND really means! I just can't wait for the Consumer Protection Act to become kick in!
33 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Shame on you, MTN. This is disgusting.
33 Weeks ago Nikelwa Goxo wrote :
My son,preserve sound judgement and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Let him who has ears hear and understand.
33 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
what ever happened to that other competition MTN had - the Summer one, where a person could win R8 mil and then give another R8 mil to charity?... I never heard anything about such a person winning!!!.... South Africans are too complacent, we really must stand up to them!!
33 Weeks ago Tsipa wrote :
Vodacom did the same thing last year, how soon you people forget. MTN didn't do anything wrong here, only some few devious crooks who leaked the URL to some cyndicate. There should be retribution.
33 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
All I want to say is - what a great comment from Anonymous starting "Everything in this country is a scam!" -very well written