Numbers of fallen soldiers for $100? Russian fake about Vodafone

Debunking pro-russian propaganda fakes: Vodafone is selling the numbers of fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

The pro-russian Telegram channel ZeRada published a message claiming that the mobile phone operator Vodafone allegedly started selling phone numbers of fallen Ukrainian soldiers for $100 as part of the “Hero’s Number” memorial campaign. They announce that regular SIM cards cost between 50 and 100 hryvnias.

However, there is no information on Vodafone’s website about such a memorial campaign, neither in the news section nor in the promotions section.

The fake news makers also claim that the company has set a goal of raising $100 million through this campaign. In other words, one fake hides another fake about the number of casualties among the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, hinting at the figure of one million dead soldiers.

“This misleading video has nothing to do with Vodafone. Our actions and beliefs stand in complete opposition to what this video suggests. Since June 2023, Vodafone has been supporting the initiative by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation to reserve mobile numbers belonging to fallen or missing Ukrainian defenders.  

Considering the various circumstances and situations our customers may find themselves in, whether at the front, in the temporarily occupied territories, in other regions of Ukraine, or abroad. In order to protect their interests while adhering to security and privacy requirements for electronic communications, we have decided not to re-assign any deactivated numbers for two years without additional requests from the original users. These users can later restore their deactivated numbers through our Number Choice service.” the company said