Search for data in Ghana and the first results are not the networks but resellers: websites, WhatsApp sellers and “data agents” offering MTN, Telecel and AT data cheaper than the networks’ own menus. Some are legitimate small businesses. Some sell data that vanishes. Some sell nothing at all.

Where cheap reseller data comes from

  • Bulk and business bundles. Networks sell data in bulk to businesses and agents, at a discount, and some of it is resold to the public. This is the legitimate end of the trade.
  • Bundles meant for someone else. Data from shared, corporate or family bundles, passed on to a stranger’s number. These can stop working when the network notices, or when the person paying for the original stops.
  • Promotions - personal offers and student bundles - bought by one person and resold.
  • Nothing. A WhatsApp seller who takes the MoMo and blocks you.

The networks do not stand behind data you bought from a stranger. If it never arrives or disappears, the network has no record of your purchase to put right.

Compare before you buy

A reseller’s price is only cheap against the network’s own price for the same amount, the same validity and the same kind of data. The networks’ own prices are often closer than the advert suggests, especially for no-expiry bundles and at night.

— What the networks charge

The scams

  • Payment first, data never. The commonest, and a form of MoMo fraud: a seller you cannot trace, a MoMo number in someone else’s name, and a block after you pay.
  • “Send the code you just received.” No one selling you data needs a code sent to your phone. That code is how your MoMo or WhatsApp account is taken over.
  • Fake bundle “hacks” and free-data apps that ask you to dial a code, install an app or share your number in groups. They harvest numbers, or sign you up to paid services.
  • “Agent” recruitment. Pay to become a data agent, then recruit others. It is a scheme built on the joining fees.

— Online fraud, and the first hour

If you do buy from a reseller

  • Start small. Buy once, see it arrive and last, then buy more.
  • Check the data arrived through the network’s own balance menu, not the seller’s screenshot.
  • Prefer a business with a name, a website, and a MoMo merchant account in that name, over a personal number on WhatsApp.
  • Never give a PIN or a code from your phone.
  • Keep the MoMo reference of every payment.

If you were cheated, report the number to your network and the police, and to the MoMo provider at once - money still in the account can sometimes be held.

— Making your data last — SIM cards and internet