Telkom mobile contract fraud

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Jamie McKane

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Telkom mobile contract fraud

A MyBroadband reader has been through a nightmare after two Telkom data contracts were fraudulently taken out in his name.

The reader said that on 24 September, he received two emails from Telkom, each of which welcomed him to the SmartBroadband Wireless LTE plan.
 
Happened to me in June 2020. Took me months to resolve this with Telkom.
They only recently removed these 2 fraudulent contracts from my Credit Profile after reporting this to the Credit Ombud.
This was after they handed me over to their debt collectors to recover the outstanding amounts.
 
From one extreme to the other. I recall years ago being denied an additional Telkom service as their vetting department claimed I was not me. What one would expect to be very simply resolved by appearing at a Telkom shop with my ID book took six months and endless hours to resolve requiring intervention by one of their executives.
 
“It is very important that customers keep their personal information safe to mitigate fraudulent transactions from occurring,” Telkom said.
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Slightly difficult to do when so many data leaks take place because other people are not as protective of your personal information.

Telkom needs to have better policies in place, and they need some kind of two-factor authentication for existing customers to prevent unauthorised privileged access to their accounts.

The fact that Telkom had to be contacted by MyBB shows how incompetent they are. I experienced similar incompetence from their accounts department when canceling our line. Contrasted to ABSA's fraud department which had an issue resolved in five hours on a Monday morning, two months is an eternity.
 
CataclysmZA said:
Slightly difficult to do when so many data leaks take place because other people are not as protective of your personal information.

Telkom needs to have better policies in place, and they need some kind of two-factor authentication for existing customers to prevent unauthorised privileged access to their accounts.

The fact that Telkom had to be contacted by MyBB shows how incompetent they are. I experienced similar incompetence from their accounts department when canceling our line. Contrasted to ABSA's fraud department which had an issue resolved in five hours on a Monday morning, two months is an eternity.
Click to expand...
It also feels as if Telkom is blaming the consumer.
 
We do keep our personal data safe, it is the corporate company's who are negligent and sell our onformation without our knowledge! POPI must be implemented fast so an example can be made of the next data breach. :mad:
 
There needs to be a better direct system than simply providing details. Even when just correcting an account mistake companies insist on calling me to confirm so I often just leave it, yet with what should be a long process of checks they simply send an sms when it's done instead of calling ahead of time to confirm. I can only surmise when extra money is involved they don't care and want to make the process as quick and simple as possible.

And who takes out a contract fraudulently? It's not like you'll be able to keep using it so doesn't seem worth the hassle to me.
 
CSPs should be fined heavily for these then they they will act quickly. Imagine the stress and headache caused.
 
Whowas the fraudster? Telkom employee?
Thing is: as long as you have no problems Telkom is fine. But they are incapable of resolving ANY problems. Last weekend I had full connection on WiFi but no data transfer. 6 Consultans each had different “solutions” to the problem. Not one solved the problem. Monday magically all back to normal? Looks like an orchestrated data blockage by Telkom
 
Hoffie Hoffmann said:
Whowas the fraudster? Telkom employee?
Thing is: as long as you have no problems Telkom is fine. But they are incapable of resolving ANY problems. Last weekend I had full connection on WiFi but no data transfer. 6 Consultans each had different “solutions” to the problem. Not one solved the problem. Monday magically all back to normal? Looks like an orchestrated data blockage by Telkom
Click to expand...

This reminds me of Poloniex.

Great bitcoin exchange, very smooth when there are no problems.

When there are problems then you're pretty much on your own.
 
Swa said:
And who takes out a contract fraudulently? It's not like you'll be able to keep using it so doesn't seem worth the hassle to me.
Click to expand...
That is quite strange if no device was included in the contract, the article mentions the following:
SmartBroadband Wireless LTE plan
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I gave up on Telkom's website trying to figure out if there was a SmartBroadband contract that included any sort of device (modem/router/phone) and there is SmartBroadband prepaid as well.

If no device was included in the contract, the only motive I can think of is that someone needed an internet connection that cannot easily be traced back to the person(s) using it for whatever nefarious purposes.

I wonder if Telkom's website allows connections from well known VPNs are TOR nodes (I am assuming that the contract(s) were taken out online and did not involve getting caught on CCTV in a Telkom shop).

I still think a Telkom employee is the most likely explanation.
 
Last edited:
With the leaked Experian data, a fraudster can be able to open an account more easily since if they train a small bit as they can then easily enough answer the credit bureau check (not Experian in Telkoms case) part of the contract process at Telkom.
 
Swa said:
There needs to be a better direct system than simply providing details. Even when just correcting an account mistake companies insist on calling me to confirm so I often just leave it, yet with what should be a long process of checks they simply send an sms when it's done instead of calling ahead of time to confirm. I can only surmise when extra money is involved they don't care and want to make the process as quick and simple as possible.

And who takes out a contract fraudulently? It's not like you'll be able to keep using it so doesn't seem worth the hassle to me.
Click to expand...

I can only assume the contracts came with devices.
 
To facilitate the registration fraudulent contracts, the fraudster had changed the customer’s personal details on his Telkom profile – his residential address, email address, and contact number had all been changed without his permission.
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Do they mean it was changed via the online profile? Maybe thus from a data leak and using same password at multiple places.
 
Have any of you attempted to contact Telkom?

It's impossible.

Take my word for it.
I loaded a weekend bundle. Couldn't use the data, since it kept saying I was OOB.

So. Power is out. I phone Telkom (first time in years). I go through the options on 180. Received an sms with a link to the Telkom WhatsApp number.

Open link and start a chat.
Nothing. You can't talk to anyone.
Every option redirects to the option list.

I never thought I would see this level of disregard of customers yet.

Make it completely impossible to reach your service provider = no complaints. Who the f could you complain to if no contact can be made?

Someone else is welcome to test.
 
This is nothing. I experienced the same issue with MTN for two years running, spending dozens of hours on the phone, they kept confirming it was resolved (only after I called, no one ever called me back) and yet I was contacted by debt companies three times telling me I owed money to MTN. They blacklisted me. I managed to get through to their ceo escalations finally to help. Telkom in this story is in no way as bad as MTN.
 
Hoffie Hoffmann said:
Whowas the fraudster? Telkom employee?
Thing is: as long as you have no problems Telkom is fine. But they are incapable of resolving ANY problems. Last weekend I had full connection on WiFi but no data transfer. 6 Consultans each had different “solutions” to the problem. Not one solved the problem. Monday magically all back to normal? Looks like an orchestrated data blockage by Telkom
Click to expand...

Of just your account? Strange.
 
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