JEDDAH, 7 November 2007 — They say that necessity is the mother of inventions, and the need to top up one’s pay-as-you-go cell-phone has people in the Kingdom finding innovative solutions to gain free talk-time credit.
“I never have to worry about paying for a rechargeable card for my cell phone,” said Suhayl, a 24-year-old Saudi college graduate, who asked his real name not be published.
Suhayl has the gift of being able to alter his voice to sound like a woman. Using his talent, Suhayl randomly rings young men claiming he is a “lonely girl” looking for a “friend.” “Men usually fall for the trap and often ring to build a relationship. I wait until the right time and I ask them to buy me a prepaid phone card,” said Suhayl, adding that most men do not hesitate to buy cards worth up to SR300.
“They dictate the serial number across the phone and I’m all set,” he said. Usually the victims do not last for more than two or three requests, said Suhayl, adding that people get suspicious after a few too many requests.
“The trick is in having good conversation skills because victims usually buy prepaid cards with a hope to get a date. I have to be smart in creating a scenario that would delay us meeting until I get as many prepaid cards as possible,” he added.
Since prepaid vouchers are easy to buy and customers do not have to register on the spot, swindling wannabe-Romeos has become easy and undetectable.
Swindlers change their SIM cards periodically to avoid detection and annoying calls from previous victims. To add to their amusement, they also confess to their victims that they are male and not a damsel in distress at one point in time. This usually attracts a barrage of expletives from the other side. The final call is usually recorded and distributed through Blue Tooth for people to share the laugh.
One poignant recording that is being circulated across Jeddah, includes the time when the swindler changes his voice from that of a female’s to that of a man. The victim could be heard swearing and pledging revenge.
Suhayl said he has often been threatened. “I don’t care about the threats, because the guy can’t go to the authorities telling them that he topped up a girl’s phone to get a date,” he said with a smile.
However, Saudi men are not the only ones changing their voices and targeting other Saudis. Women are also busily doing the same. In fact women swindlers are much more effective and often meet their victims on brief dates at expensive restaurants before disappearing.
Muhammad Al-Harthi, a 28-year-old Saudi, said he once fell for such a scam. He received a call from a girl claiming she had dialed the wrong number. “She started a conversation to get me interested. After calling her a couple of times, she said that she was out of cash and needed to recharge her phone to phone me again,” said Al-Harthi.
Al-Harthi recharged her phone several times before she disappeared. “She sent a message thanking me for the prepaid cards and asking me not to contact her again. Before that, I did feel she was a little materialistic but I didn’t think she was a con artist only out to get her cell phone recharged,” he said.
