Cellular3.05.2013

Your airtime stolen, and all you can do is complain

SIM swap fraud fix

In South Africa, a rogue WASP can start billing a SIM card from Cell C and MTN without the authorization of the subscriber. That is right – rogue WASPs can start stealing your airtime, and there is very little you can do about it.

You may be surprised to learn that this has been the case for years, and not much is done about it despite numerous complaints from consumers.

There is no mechanism for South African cellular subscribers to pro-actively block WASPs from billing their accounts. All they can do is to filter through monthly bills to see if a rogue WASP has targeted their number.

If a mobile user finds unauthorised deductions from a rogue WASP, they are in for a massive battle to try to get their money back. This includes finding out who the WASP is, laying an official complaint, and then managing the process.

BulkSMS CEO Pieter Streicher said that this situation is “clearly unacceptable”.

“I have lobbied for better controls since 2006 and tried to increase awareness of these services,” said Streicher.

Another WASP CEO, who asked to remain anonymous, agrees with Streicher, saying that the situation is “ridiculous”. He added that the laborious process needed to get money back is more trouble than it’s worth.

Pieter Streicher

Pieter Streicher

Who is to blame?

The Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (WASPA) was set up by the local WASPs and the mobile operators to protect consumers against bad practices. Some people feel that they are failing.

Streicher said that the biggest problem currently in the industry is the inability of WASPA to enforce its sanctions against a single WASP in the industry.

“Unfortunately, in the case of one WASP, more than R2 million in fines are outstanding – with the oldest being more than 4 years old now. Clearly if the WASPA sanctions are not enforced, WASPA is failing as a regulator,” said Streicher.

The other industry player said that the biggest problem is that the sanctions applied to rogue WASPs is not sufficient to dissuade them from this type of activity.

“Also, WASPA has historically been staffed by people with a vested interest in keeping the status quo,” he said.

WASPA responds

WASPA said that it is “definitely” doing enough to protect cellular subscribers against unauthorised billing from WASPs.

“Last year we had a case where a WASP was suspended from WASPA for doing unauthorised billing and this led to suspension by the mobile network operators (MNOs) too,” WASPA said.

“WASPA has its own unsubscribe management system that integrates with all the MNO call centres to assist consumers in getting unsubscribed from any services they no longer want.”

Mobile operators respond

Vodacom is the only mobile operator which has implemented a double opt-in system, which makes it nearly impossible for customers to be billed for any WASP service without their consent.

“Since the double opt-in was introduced, there haven’t been any new cases of fraudulent billing of WASP services since the double opt-in was introduced,” said Vodacom spokesperson Nomsa Thusi.

Cell C said that it only facilitates the relationship between the WASP and the Cell C customer.

“At this stage it is not possible for Cell C to ascertain whether a customer has opted-in unless a customer brings a potential query to our attention,” said Cell C spokesperson Karin Fourie.

Cell C therefore allows WASPs to bill their customers without any confirmation that they have actually opted-in for a service, and it is up to the customer to complain if they have been billed without permission.

Cell C said that it conducts an investigation if a subscriber complains. “If for whatever reason a customer is subscribed without opt-in, the WASP must refund the customer in full,” said Fourie.

MTN did not respond to requests for information on possible unauthorised billing which takes place on its network.

Some good news is that WASPA is promoting a double opt-in for MTN and Cell C to remove disputes between WASPs and mobile users.

With double opt-in MNOs would “legally have an irrefutable record that a consumer accepted the billing from a WASP for a service,” WASPA explained.

More WASP articles

Massive fight to get R7-a-day money back

R5-a-day cell service nailed

Waspa, Buongiorno engaged in legal discussions

Click and you may pay R5 a day

How “SMS spammers” get your number

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