Our book-keeper, who has been fired for fraud, found a nifty loophole to save herself and her family some money. She called Telkom and arranged that her home phone and her mother's home phone accounts were paid by the business by means of a debit order. Telkom accepted the request which she made by email without asking for a copy of an ID. She did have signing powers on the account, which enabled her to have an additional bank card made which enabled her to withdraw R 225 000 in cash from ATMs during a 15 month period.
To try it out, I called Telkom and told them I wanted to have my phone account paid by debit order onto my bank. All I had to do was provide my ID number and the bank account details. No forms to fill in, no questions as to whether I was entitled or authorised to institute debits to that bank account, it just went ahead. When I tried to cancel the instruction there was a merry run-around, no-one knew what to do, phone calls were not returned, so I went to the bank and instructed them to deny any payment requests from Telkom.
I also found that said bookkeeper was getting cash from her mother to pay for the mother's phone account and was pocketing it since the account was being paid by direct debit. When mother's phone was cut off as the bank declined the debit orders, she was most indignant and refused to believe that her daughter could have done such a thing. In 12 months the mother's phone account was R 14 334.66.
Temptation sometimes cannot be resisted, and Telkom make it easy to follow the dark route. I challenged them on this and the lady was astounded, then admitted that the scenario I presented was quite plausible.
To try it out, I called Telkom and told them I wanted to have my phone account paid by debit order onto my bank. All I had to do was provide my ID number and the bank account details. No forms to fill in, no questions as to whether I was entitled or authorised to institute debits to that bank account, it just went ahead. When I tried to cancel the instruction there was a merry run-around, no-one knew what to do, phone calls were not returned, so I went to the bank and instructed them to deny any payment requests from Telkom.
I also found that said bookkeeper was getting cash from her mother to pay for the mother's phone account and was pocketing it since the account was being paid by direct debit. When mother's phone was cut off as the bank declined the debit orders, she was most indignant and refused to believe that her daughter could have done such a thing. In 12 months the mother's phone account was R 14 334.66.
Temptation sometimes cannot be resisted, and Telkom make it easy to follow the dark route. I challenged them on this and the lady was astounded, then admitted that the scenario I presented was quite plausible.
