When Paul R. Ehrlich said “To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.”, he meant humans will always be prone to mistakes — especially where computers are involved! While you can afford to mistakenly send that photo you took at last night’s party to your boss instead of your friend and get away with it, you might not easily get over it where money is involved.
Strictly speaking, the Telecoms haven’t added a convenient “undo” button similar to what your word editor has, but have put measures in place to help you reverse a transaction just in case you screw-up (and you probably will).
Here’s what you can do if you realize you have sent money to the wrong number.
Now as a control measure, the MTN Mobile Money USSD app included a confirmation step so that you double check if indeed you want to send that money to that number.
However, should you send mobile money to a wrong number you can notify MTN customer care immediately for reversal through their help lines. For instance, Talk time or postpaid, can call 121; Mobile money 122, MTN dealers 124, MTN prepaid high usage customers call 125, MTN fixed and mobile internet call 126 etc. You can also reach them on Social media and email support, their service centers and dealer shops are all complementary efforts to ensure a better customer experience.
For the other money networks (M-Pesa, Orange money, Airtel money, M-Sente), you definitely want to immediately contact their customer care channels or service center shops. Of course all this has to be in a small window of time — that is before the wrong person withdraws the money. Otherwise you might have to employ some unorthodox tactics to get your money back.
Image: stockarch.com