Beware - Vodacom contract scam

Bradley Prior

Bradley Prior

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Beware - Vodacom contract scam

Vodacom subscribers are advised to closely inspect their monthly cell phone bill to ensure they are not victims of an upgrade scam.

The scam is simple – the criminals upgrade a Vodacom contract customer’s account without their permission and “steal” the new smartphone associated with this upgrade.
 
Yep, been there.... got upgraded from 2 cheap Telefunken tablets to 2 Samsung Note 8 + 20 GB data.
 
How is it possible for criminals to upgrade your account? Why does Vodacom make out as if it is the subscriber that has caused this by sharing personal details? I just hate it when there is poor security from a company's side and they shift the blame to their customers. Where does RICA come into the picture here?
 
Typical large corporate response.... trying to fob the blame off to the client.

If someone has enough info on me to be able to commit identity theft, why the hell are they only upgrading cell contracts? They would theoretically be able to go buck wild with large scale credit....
 
But surely the person doing the upgrade has to produce an original identity document that matches the person's name on the contract? Vodacom is 100% at fault here... as usual.
 
I kind of blame the people STILL on contracts. Jeepers. I thought people would would catch a wake up when Vodacom decided to increase pricing in contract.
 
Code: 
The above came to attention when I received the debit order on 29 April 2017 for the amount of R600 instead of the usual R75,” he said.

Still can't believe they don't notify you on your primary number about the upgrade. Would a SMS to the customer when the upgrade was initiated have been too much to ask? This would allow much earlier detection of fraud. Even better how about some sort of OTP to the primary number that you have to produce to initiate the upgrade?
 
Surely all of these are inside jobs? Done exactly the same way as the cloned sim/bank fraud. There's no way that this is happening externally of Vodacom. Then again, you can cancel that (fraudulent) contract with only a 75% cancellation fee :X3:
 
morkhans said:
Still can't believe they don't notify you on your primary number about the upgrade. Would a SMS to the customer when the upgrade was initiated have been too much to ask? This would allow much earlier detection of fraud. Even better how about some sort of OTP to the primary number that you have to produce to initiate the upgrade?
Click to expand...
SMS is expensive on Vodacom.
 
Two agents from Vodacom phone me within a week other one is Elite mobile and forgot the other they offered me Samsung galaxy 4 others offered me Samsung S10 so I don't know who is legit/scam.But elite mobile SMS me a contract order ref no: Please help me.
 
And here I thought when I read the headline they are talking about Vodacom's contracts. Just shows the expectations Vodacom has created over the years.
 
Always seems to be vodacom. Who wants to bet the fraud is happening right inside vodacom? Its simple to trace these devices using their IMEI numbers no matter which sim card is installed. Are their risk guys that useless or doea VC not want to catch the guys ?
 
marine1 said:
Always seems to be vodacom. Who wants to bet the fraud is happening right inside vodacom? Its simple to trace these devices using their IMEI numbers no matter which sim card is installed. Are their risk guys that useless or doea VC not want to catch the guys ?
Click to expand...
It is funny how devices you report stolen still gets used but just miss a payment and watch how it turns into a brick that's impossible to sell. Priorities
 
As a mild necro-bump. We have just found out 3 of my father-in-law's contract phones were upgraded without his consent.
 
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