Fraudsters using Woza Online to scam people in South Africa

Figured this would happen eventually. Any business looking at getting some online presence, definitely look at this as a short term solution until you can afford a "real" website (no offence)
 
http://badwhois.info/?p=378
Google as a conduit for Black Money Scams

http://ssdlabrsalimited.wozaonline.co.za/
Email 1: [email protected]
Email 2: [email protected]
Phone: (+27) 110796845
Agent in Asian:(+86)13711483870
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> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9YbSeGnnM

http://black2whitessd.wozaonline.co.za/
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Tel: +27 110571602
Phone: +27 817964303
Fax: +27 862283003
Corner of Rivonia & South Street
Sandton
Johannesburg
2191
South Africa
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http://www.blacklaboratorywozaonline.co.za/products
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
77 graston drive santon
johannesburg
2002
South Africa.phone;+27780605988 or +27847194361
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Graston? Santon? :erm:

I guess veryveryveryverylongnames are more convincing:
http://ssdvetropastchemicalsolutioncleaningblankmoney.wozaonline.co.za/
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +27729364003
Phone: 0110391436
tesla crescent and edison sunninghill
sandton
johannesburg
2000
South Africa
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Listing is going to take way too long, this may be easier:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22ssd%20solution%22%20site%3Awozaonline.co.za
 
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is a headline partner in Woza Online, said that they are not aware of Woza Online.

“The DTI is not aware of this Woza Online,” said the DTI’s chief director media liaison Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe.

He suggested that complaints about the scammers on Woza Online are referred to the National Credit Regulator (NCR) CEO Nomsa Motshegare.
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I weep for this country's SME opportunities with this kind of ineptitude being so rife and endemic. WTF is the NCR going to do, Sidwell? And how are you not aware of Woza Online? You've got be kidding me...
 
http://www.gov.za/speeches/view.php?sid=24562
Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe at the launch of Google South Africa Woza Online 19 Jan 2012
The conception and introduction of Woza Online seeks to remove the barriers that stop small businesses from getting online by making it quick, easy and free to set up a website. We should appreciate the innovative thinking that has preceded the conception of this idea.
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http://www.gov.za/speeches/view.php?sid=39467
Yunus Carrim, Minister of Communications 05 Sep 2013
Google is partnering with Vodacom, LeadSA and our Department of Trade and Industry in the Woza Online project. Woza Online has now connected 45 000 small and medium enterprises to the internet through free websites. This has given them an online presence leading to an increase in revenue. It is through initiatives such as these we can take our country forward.
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http://mybroadband.co.za/news/security/93575-fraudsters-using-woza-online-to-scam-people-in-sa.html
December 12, 2013
“The DTI is not aware of this Woza Online,” said the DTI’s chief director media liaison Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe.
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http://www.thedti.gov.za/ image to the right:
woza.png


Maybe less speeches and more action will help?
 
Here's an interesting discussion on this...

https://productforums.google.com/fo...ebuilder/feedback-and-suggestions/ZoJy4ORU0hg

The following issue has been escalated to the relevant folks internally dealing with these issues. However not much appears to be happening.
Imagine being a legitimate business owner, duly registered with CIPRO etc. Suddenly you start receiving calls from disgruntled clients who claim to have ordered from you online at your Wozaonline site, yet have not received their goods. There is a problem: You do not have a wozaonline site!

Somebody not affiliated with your business has stolen your company's identity and is defrauding the public using your name with a fake Wozaonline website. You report it to the police. In the meantime the police are receiving numerous complaints from victims. Consumer columns are also listing you for non-delivery after payment.

Such is the case with http://buffaloccs.wozaonline.co.za/
While a real company exists with this name, the website owners are not the claimed company.

A bit of research reveals that this party established three other websites:
http://gadgetszone.wozaonline.co.za
http://camera-hyper.wozaonline.co.za
http://gadgetmore.wozaonline.co.za

In the past this same party set up his own fraudulent website mophenetlimited.com which was terminated for reasons of fraud.

This party is using fictitious couriers to transport the non-exist items, then impersonates revenue officials to extort eevn more money from the victims.

Yet despite these website being used for fraud and in fact violating the Google Business Sitebuilder ToS, it somehow seems it takes an act of god to have these websites removed.

Since the first reports to Google, more victims are coming forward. Why is it so difficult to have these removed? What purpose are they serving to anybody other than miscreants?

I'm also asking if the South African Government and big South African business would in fact like to be associated with Google Business Sitebuilder if this is going to be the case.

Google Business Sitebuilder staff are free to contact me if more details are needed, but this issue needs to be resolved immediately.

Thank you.
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More at the link...
 
DJ... said:
Here's an interesting discussion on this...

https://productforums.google.com/fo...ebuilder/feedback-and-suggestions/ZoJy4ORU0hg



More at the link...
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Do yourself a favour and read the responses of Google in the forum link - sheer ignorance and brushing it off as a none-issue and having no interest in being involved. Although Google mentioned that one can simple click the "Report"-button, no action is taken. When following up with Google we were asked to serve a court order which is really a joke since a fraud-victim will not be able to push cyber crimes of this nature through the system. Some of the fraudulent Woza dites (such as this one: http://electronics4less.wozaonline.co.za) are still in operation despite having been reported over 45 days ago.

Google said:
As discussed before, once a Court Order is served against a business and you may sent it to us. And we will do a thorough review on the reported site.
Once it is proven, we will take down the offending website for proven fraudulent behavior.
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Problem is: You report it and nothing gets done. SAPS does not want to open a docket (we know several victims who were brushed off at SAPS) and CCU will not do anything since a single fraud case is typically "below their margin of fraud" - i.e. anything below 100K is not considered serious.

Woza Online Team said:
We take complaints about Woza Online websites seriously but it is important that the complaints are made in the right way.

The best way to complain about a Woza Online site is to use the ‘Report abuse’ button at the bottom of every Woza Online website. This complaint will then be reviewed by a member of the Google policy team. For those sites being accused of impersonation we need the original business to send us an official copyright complaint which they can do by e mailing [email protected].

Complaints about fraud are very tough for Google to assess because it is difficult for us to prove whether a business is acting ethically or sending products to consumers who have paid for them. The correct process is for a complaint to be made to the local law enforcement agencies who will then investigate and if they find the business guilty they will issue a Court Order against them. If a Court Order is served against a business and it is sent to us we can then take down the offending website for proven fraudulent behaviour.

Woza Online has been a major success in South Africa, helping over 40,000 small and medium sized businesses to create their first ever website. However, we do remain vigilant when it comes to abuse.

Sincerely,
Devina
The South African Business Woza Online Team
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Google has absolutely no interest in managing the security aspects in a controlled manner and people will continue falling for scams of this nature. I am aware of one user having lost over 40K due to credit card information being harvested and another having lost close to 25K - all too trivial for Google South Africa, Lead SA, DTI or anyone else involved to take any action.
 
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Good search engines doing nothing

Google is way out of their depth. They should go back to search and get out of web site hosting if they don't know what they are doing - and in Africa, defending the digital rights of the individual is equal to defending the rights of criminals to their crime. If you uphold the "rights" of the criminals to their crime, then you are not a friend.

If anyone does get a court order, I hope that they will get it in South Africa against Uniforum AND google, joinltly and severally - something permanent and damaging, since they care so little about the matter.
 
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cfilorux said:
Google is way out of their depth. They should go back to search and get out of web site hosting if they don't know what they are doing - and in Africa, defending the digital rights of the individual is equal to defending the rights of criminals to their crime. If you uphold the "rights" of the criminals to their crime, then you are not a friend.

If anyone does get a court order, I hope that they will get it in South Africa against Uniforum AND google, joinltly and severally - something permanent and damaging, since they care so little about the matter.
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I think the best way to address this is to collate all the fraud issues experienced over the last few months and then summarily serve a subpoena via CCU to Google Africa and Woza Online - after all the platforms facilitate the fraud without taking any accountability.

We all know that hiding behind a court-order is a cheap cop-out from Woza to take any responsibility. The basic question "Why does Woza / Google need a courter order to investigate alleged fraud" still remains. You will find that the majority of fraud conducted on Woza is a rinse-and-repeat of a number of black money syndicates and you will easily find that those criminals are easy to track.
 
“The DTI is not aware of this Woza Online,” said the DTI’s chief director media liaison Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe

woza.png


And these guys still have their job?
Next we will hear, "The DTI is not aware of this internet thing"
 
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is a headline partner in Woza Online, said that they are not aware of Woza Online.
“The DTI is not aware of this Woza Online,” said the DTI’s chief director media liaison Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe.
Click to expand...

I literally facepalmed. I cannot... this country... anymore.. words. :wtf:
 
AnibugZA said:
I literally facepalmed. I cannot... this country... anymore.. words. :wtf:
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LOL... I also read that over a few times. Initially I thought I misread it, then I assumed shoddy work from mybb but at the 3rd attempt I realised that it may just be possible.
 
Although Google had an inkling of effort, it was only to cover and take down the most obvious websites mentioned in the article. I would still stay far away from Woza Online - especially when it comes to high-end goods such as digital cameras and electronics - almost every single site on Woza is fraudulent
 
“The DTI is not aware of this Woza Online,” said the DTI’s chief director media liaison Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe.
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All that comes to mind is, Trevor Noah with the line "Yes, we want to know! Where does this lightning come from?!"

:D
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
Although Google had an inkling of effort, it was only to cover and take down the most obvious websites mentioned in the article. I would still stay far away from Woza Online - especially when it comes to high-end goods such as digital cameras and electronics - almost every single site on Woza is fraudulent
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Is there a way to report scam websites to them?
 
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