A number of South Africans have been affected by Telkom contract fraud and had unauthorised debit orders taken on their names.
According to MyBroadband, this issue has been happening since at least late 2020. The outlet has received multiple complaints from victims claiming that Telkom contracts have been fraudulently taken out on their names, with debit orders subsequently going off without their authorisation.
Some victims say thousands have been deducted from their bank accounts for packages they never signed up for.
Many claim to have spoken to customer service from Telkom and were told the issue would be resolved, but only two of the complainants have seen success thus far.
According to MyBroadband, mobile contract fraud is a common form of identity theft in South Africa. All criminals need is enough personal information to impersonate them and falsify an ID document to sign up for a mobile contract on your name.
This is similar to clickjacking – the criminal act of illegally subscribing customers to a wide range of content for a daily or weekly fee. South Africa is the second most affected African country by this type of mobile crime after Kenya.
Research conducted by Paris-based anti-fraud firm Evina found that in July 2020, one out of every three wireless application service provider (WASP) subscription attempts in South Africa was fraudulent.
“Although our systems are on par with the industry as far as protection of customer information, threats evolve as criminals find different ways to defraud Telkom and its customers, we too continuously tighten processes to ensure the integrity of Telkom transactions,” Telkom explained the outlet.
To resolve this issue, victims must supply an affidavit swearing they did not apply for the service.
“We require an affidavit confirming the individual did not apply for the service. Telkom investigates each case and subject to the outcome of the investigation, the necessary credits will be passed where it is found the account was opened fraudulently.”
If you discover fraudulent debit orders on your name, please call the Telkom call centre on 10210 or 081180 or visit one of their retail outlets.
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