Are phone calls from 08030004900 really sending people to their deaths?

All over Nigeria, people are sending panic messages round that people are jumping into the Lagos Lagoon or killing themselves in other ways after receiving a telephone call from a strange “killer number” (the number is 08030004900). Those messages have gained grounds and almost become a frenzy. Here are two examples of the messages:

Good evening. I hope you guys have heard that the police saved another woman trying to jump into the lagoon today. Please, my sisters, this is the number calling them…08030004900… I didn’t really believe until a friend told me the number called her and started saying some enchantment and the next thing she heard was told to kill her self with any possible means she has. The same number called her friend’s brother in school and if not for his roommates that stopped him, he would have stabbed himself with the knife in his hands. So please sisters, let’s pass this information. And lets also b prayerful. It was the same number that called that doctor that jumped into the lagoon too. #TAKEHEED

And another:

Please don’t pick number *08030004900* Please ooo… It’s real.. Tell everyone…
The number just called me this morning. Thank God I got the info before the call came in. I was told the person that picked it disappeared. Please send to all your contacts to warn them of this evil number!!! Copied!

If the reports are to be believed, there is some dark person behind the phone number and using it to whisk people away or to send them to their deaths. Reading these stories, I knew this was a hoax. It would be hilarious if so many people were not so scared to death (forgive the pun) about this matter. So, I decided to help kill the hoax.

I called the “killer number” 08030004900

The first thing I did was call the number. I mean, if the dark powers behind the number were so keen on killing people, they would be delighted to have someone call in instead; right? Nothing would delight a hungry lion more than for an antelope to walk into its lair; right? Exactly.

So I called the number. Duh. A pre-recorded voice told me that the number I was trying to reach does not exist. Aha. A little feedback from other people and some research on my part confirmed that the said number is an MTN Nigeria telemarketing line used for callertunez promotions. Which explains why my call didn’t go through.

Nobody is dying (or even falling ill) after receiving a call from 08030004900 or any killer number. There is no sorcery behind the number. It is a pesky marketing number that you should probably block. One of those numbers that disturb you with marketing that you do not need or want.

But it is absolutely not some voodoo number that sends people to their grave. That narrative is just a pile of crock being peddled by superstitious people. So, do tell your friends and uncles and aunties that it is not true that people are dying or disappearing after receiving a phone call from 08030004900.

Let me say it again: 08030004900 is not a killer number. There is no killer number anywhere.

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Author: Mister Mobility

Master storyteller and founder of Mobility Nigeria, Mister Mobility, has used and reviewed hundreds of mobile phones since 2001.