Dodgy - reminder of your outstanding Vumatel invoice

[Flanders]

"Dear xxx, this is a reminder of your outstanding Vumatel invoice for a fibre installation. Kindly click on link for options: link here.
For queries, call..."

This is an sms I received today. I don't have an outstanding installation amount and so I went to the albeit dodgy looking link. Here's what I was greeted with:



At this point I became even more suspicious and didn't proceed further. Instead I phoned the number where a woman claiming to be from Vumatel's accounts department informed me that I would need to proceed on this form in order to get a reference number to resolve this issue because of an accounts error whereby my isp had not yet paid over installation fees to vumatel (which I paid direct to vumatel in April of 2018 before even choosing an isp).

I decided to contact my isp directly and see what they had to say. I'll not name them at this point as it seems to me that this has nothing to do with them if indeed this is some sort of scam. I was told that vumatel would have emailed me directly should there have been an outstanding amount with them and that I should ignore the sms. I've had no such correspondence of any kind from vuma.

Any comment on this?

UPDATE:

Turns out that this is legit. Yesterday I received the same sms but this time I received an accompanying email from collections@vumatel.co.za with invoice attached.

 

[Nobody Important]

"Dear xxx, this is a reminder of your outstanding Vumatel invoice for a fibre installation. Kindly click on link for options: link here.
For queries, call..."

This is an sms I received today. I don't have an outstanding installation amount and so I went to the albeit dodgy looking link. Here's what I was greeted with:

View attachment 625906

At this point I became suspicious and didn't proceed further. Instead I phoned the number where a woman claiming to be from Vumatel's accounts department informed me that I would need to proceed on this form in order to get a reference number to resolve this issue because of an accounts error whereby my isp had not yet paid over installation fees to vumatel (which I paid direct to vumatel in April of 2018 before even choosing an isp).

I decided to contact my isp directly and see what they had to say. I'll not name them at this point as it seems to me that this has nothing to do with them if indeed this is some sort of scam. I was told that vumatel would have emailed me directly should there have been an outstanding amount with them and that I should ignore the sms. I've had no such correspondence of any kind from vuma.

Any comment on this?

I would be sceptical too.

The url link, is it directing you to the official Vumatel website?

 

[Flanders]

I would be sceptical too.

The url link, is it directing you to the official Vumatel website?

Nope. nmble.co is the domain. Would love to know how they got my name.

 

[Nobody Important]

Nope. nmble.co is the domain. Would love to know how they got my name.

Just to be sure, go onto the official Vumatel website and check the number they have listed to see if it is the same. If not, then phone Vumatel to confirm its a scam.

Very perplexing how they get your (and everybodies) details. When I first setup my own domain with a catch-all address, I was getting very elaborate invoices from a Wine Cellar addressed to a "steven" @ my domain. This went on for months and I was tempted into responding to tell them they have their details mixed up, but my spidey sense told me no, this is a trap. My domain was brand new and unknown so I imagined (correctly or not I do not know) that some employee working at the ISP was selling details.

 

[Flanders]

Just to be sure, go onto the official Vumatel website and check the number they have listed to see if it is the same. If not, then phone Vumatel to confirm its a scam.

That's the thing, I can't find a direct phone number for vumatel. Under their contacts section they list all the isp numbers they're affiliated with and suggest calling them for assistance. I don't see a contact email either so I'm not even sure how to query this.

 

[Nobody Important]

That's the thing, I can't find a direct phone number for vumatel. Under their contacts section they list all the isp numbers they're affiliated with and suggest calling them for assistance. I don't see a contact email either so I'm not even sure how to query this.

Hmm. Okay then just ignore for now. If it is so important, they will enlist your ISP as well.

 

[D4N_CPT]

That's the thing, I can't find a direct phone number for vumatel. Under their contacts section they list all the isp numbers they're affiliated with and suggest calling them for assistance. I don't see a contact email either so I'm not even sure how to query this.

https://vumatel.co.za/contact-us

The very last entry?

 

[Daisy Cloudskitter]

^^ +1
Agreed way to go, definitely sounds like a fraud attempt. You paid for the installation almost a year ago so I can't see why they'd suddenly report an ' error' now.
Wouldn't trust the SMS link or 'accounts' phone number given. So many scams around I never trust SMS links, not even from the bank. Would only respond/check via known contact details or on secure websites.

 

[Flanders]

https://vumatel.co.za/contact-us

The very last entry?

D'oh! Missed that. Thanks, I'll call 'em.

 

[JustinB]

I just had the same occur. What was the outcome of this?

 

[Venomous]

"Dear xxx, this is a reminder of your outstanding Vumatel invoice for a fibre installation. Kindly click on link for options: link here.
For queries, call..."

This is an sms I received today. I don't have an outstanding installation amount and so I went to the albeit dodgy looking link. Here's what I was greeted with:

View attachment 625906

At this point I became even more suspicious and didn't proceed further. Instead I phoned the number where a woman claiming to be from Vumatel's accounts department informed me that I would need to proceed on this form in order to get a reference number to resolve this issue because of an accounts error whereby my isp had not yet paid over installation fees to vumatel (which I paid direct to vumatel in April of 2018 before even choosing an isp).

I decided to contact my isp directly and see what they had to say. I'll not name them at this point as it seems to me that this has nothing to do with them if indeed this is some sort of scam. I was told that vumatel would have emailed me directly should there have been an outstanding amount with them and that I should ignore the sms. I've had no such correspondence of any kind from vuma.

Any comment on this?

See screen shot when searching for vumatel contact details.

Is it the same number or is it different?

 

[cavedog]

nmble.co

Is a short url for Nimble Debt collection. Not sure but maybe Vumatel uses Nimble for debt collecting.

 

[Flanders]

I just had the same occur. What was the outcome of this?

I phoned vumatel after my last post. To be honest, the guy I spoke to sounded a bit confused on the other end and couldn't give me a straight answer as to whether this was legit or not. Because I have settled the installation bill I just left it.

Your installation is paid? If you speak to them and get any valuable info, please post.

 

[WickedP3NGU1N]

Vuma sent an email a while ago warning of two scams, and one of them was the above. The other is some guy arriving at your gate to tell you there is something wrong and he is there to check, he checks, charges a fee and sometimes installs faulty hardware and vanishes. However that thing above is not legit at all.

 

[ginggs]

"Dear xxx, this is a reminder of your outstanding Vumatel invoice for a fibre installation. Kindly click on link for options: link here.
For queries, call..."

What is the number to call for queries, given in the original SMS?

 

[ProfA]

Are people still questioning this type of obvious scam? In this day and age? If you owe money, they will call/contact you. And they will have numbers and e-mail addresses linked to the company being owed which can be easily verified. The moment you are asked to follow a link...SCAM! The moment you are asked to call them....SCAM!

 

[Flanders]

Are people still questioning this type of obvious scam? In this day and age? If you owe money, they will call/contact you. And they will have numbers and e-mail addresses linked to the company being owed which can be easily verified. The moment you are asked to follow a link...SCAM! The moment you are asked to call them....SCAM!

Well that's what I thought and so didn't click on anything and called them direct.

Thing is this nimble bunch have been spamming me. I'm debt-free so I never take their calls even though truecaller blocks them in any case.

Would be nice if vuma would put out an email warning of the known ones. It's bound to catch a few people. Like I said, even the person I spoke to at vuma was confused.

 

[Flanders]

Vuma sent an email a while ago warning of two scams, and one of them was the above. The other is some guy arriving at your gate to tell you there is something wrong and he is there to check, he checks, charges a fee and sometimes installs faulty hardware and vanishes. However that thing above is not legit at all.

Thanks, somehow I didn't get this mail.

 

[ProfA]

Well that's what I thought and so didn't click on anything and called them direct.

Thing is this nimble bunch have been spamming me. I'm debt-free so I never take their calls even though truecaller blocks them in any case.

Would be nice if vuma would put out an email warning of the known ones. It's bound to catch a few people. Like I said, even the person I spoke to at vuma was confused.

http://nimblegroup.co.za/contact/

This company seems legit though? Surely Vumatel should be cracking down on them if they are using Vumatel's name to collect imaginary debt????

 

[maumau]

Some months back I received a call on a Saturday while I was shopping. Suspecting a scam I shrieked at the lady because she couldn't quote my CPE/ONT number and told her that if she was genuine she should phone back during business hours. I then received an SMS.

Looked on the Vuma website for contact details, phoned them, confirmed my customer number and confirmed I had not paid for the installation which was done 9 months previously. Checked my documentation.

TL;DR - the call was genuine but not very professional.