Is what Vodacom doing illegal?

[RowShack]

So i have noticed that for the past 3 month there has been additional changes on my Vodacom account.

On my invoice the following line items have appeared.

Entertainment Services
Purchased Content 2

Here is a breakdown of the amounts.
01/07/2025 R196,10
01/06/2025 R217,11
01/05/2025 R147,07
Total R560,28

I phoned vodacom to find out what this is and to stop it.
They logged a ticket to there finance team and are aware of this being a common problem.
I phoned back after a week as i got a sms to say my ticket was resolved. (NO update to why it was added or if i will be reimbursed).
While on the phone they told me i will not be reimbursed as i am the one that had to activate these services and i am liable for that.

So i asked how did this happen as i dont click on anything on my SMS's or the vodapay app that looks like a subscription.

HERE is what i find illegal or misleading or unethical.

They told me that 3rd party provider can sign you up for these subscriptions on your phone number if you click on certain add on webpages on your phone.
Further to that they explained that if someone is connected to your Phones WiFI Hotspot and if they click on adds or anything similar on any other APP's or websites it will subscribe you to a new services and charge your Vodacom account monthly or daily.

Has anyone else experienced this before?

Is this legal?

 

[supersunbird]

Further to that they explained that if someone is connected to your Phones WiFI Hotspot and if they click on adds or anything similar on any other APP's or websites it will subscribe you to a new services and charge your Vodacom account monthly or daily.

Jip, was hotspotting for someone and got subscription attempts (I have put a block on subscription services so it was never successful and I got failure notifications) because they (the person I was sharing hotspot to) were bad at internet.

As to being illegal, only if breaking a law, so now one would need to determine which law they are breaking to answer if it is illegal or not.

 

[B-1]

They make a killing out of it so don't do anything they are not legally obligated to do to prevent these services.

Go here for some information on how to permanently block these content services:

Losing airtime? – WASPA

waspa.org.za

 

[Jam Sandwich]

Jip, was hotspotting for someone and got subscription attempts (I have put a block on subscription services so it was never successful and I got failure notifications) because they were bad at internet.

And to being illegal, only if breaking a law, so now one would need to determine which law they are breaking to answer if it is illegal or not.

Ja, you have to check for subscriptions on your phone and put a block on services. I did the same for my mom.

 

[RowShack]

Jip, was hotspotting for someone and got subscription attempts (I have put a block on subscription services so it was never successful and I got failure notifications) because they (the person I was sharing hotspot to) were bad at internet.

As to being illegal, only if breaking a law, so now one would need to determine which law they are breaking to answer if it is illegal or not.

So oddly enough i did try and do this and asked them is there any way to permanently block this and that no service ever get added to my account again or that i need to give verbal agreement before its allows to activate.
They just said no.