Cellular31.07.2024

South Africa’s spam call epidemic

Many South Africans are complaining about a surge in spam calls during July.

After experiencing a flood of spam calls in the past two weeks first hand, MyBroadband took a snap poll among a sample of readers.

Over 80% of respondents noticed a marked increase in unsolicited direct marketing during July.

Among the offenders were Blue Label Telecoms, which was selling smartphone contracts for mobile operators, DStv, Mutual & Federal (Old Mutual), Momentrum Metropolitan, and Afriforum.

“I received five calls this morning alone. Blocked, reported as robocaller or telemarketer, and moved on with my life. It’s not just spam calls, either. The email marketing guys are also upping their game immensely!” one MyBroadband forum member said.

“Phone calls as a business tool are dead. Spam killed it,” said another.

“I can’t believe anyone is still answering calls from anyone outside of your address book. Email me, WhatsApp me, or even SMS me. Trying to call is a lost cause. I won’t answer.”

Stories included agents who were incredibly rude when declining their offers, and automated calling systems placing a customer on hold for what was made out to be an important call.

MyBroadband contacted the Information Regulator to find out if they had seen an increase in complaints about phone spammers recently.

It should be noted that a low complaint volume does not necessarily mean spam volumes were low; it only indicates whether there had been an increase in the number of formal complaints to the regulator.

“We have not noted any significant increase in complaints in the past weeks regarding spam calls,” a spokesperson for the regulator said.

“We have received only two complaints that are as a result of direct marketing or spam.”

The Information Regulator and TrueCaller recently told MyBroadband that insurance companies, debt collectors, mobile operators, political parties, and fraudsters are the most complained-about spam callers in South Africa.

“There are complaints received in connection to direct marketing which are currently under investigation,” the Information Regulator said.

“We are also consulting the Direct Marketing Guidance note with industry players before we issue it.”

The regulator previously said that, so far, it has issued an enforcement notice to one responsible party as a result of contravening the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) with direct marketing — FT Rams Consulting.

Pansy Tlakula, Information Regulator chair

In February 2024, the watchdog declared that telemarketing amounts to electronic communication and must be regulated under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

The regulator will investigate companies found to be contravening the act and, if necessary, issue them with enforcement notices.

“Following receipt of a complaint on direct marketing, we would conduct an investigation, which may be followed by an enforcement notice,” it said.

However, it noted that it may also carry out a section 89 assessment on its own without a complaint or by request, which will be followed by an assessment report.

“The Assessment Report is equivalent to an enforcement notice,” it said.

The enforcement notice or assessment report will include instructions that the offending company must comply with within a specified time frame.

If they fail to do so, they could be fined up to R10 million or sentenced to jail time.

The Information Regulator issued an enforcement notice to FT Rams Consulting in late February 2024 for allegedly failing to remove people from their list when they opted out.

MyBroadband contacted several of the companies people reported receiving spam from. MultiChoice, MTN, Vodacom, and Massmart provided feedback.

Momentum and Old Mutual did not respond by publication.

In Massmart’s case, MyBroadband saw a complaint from a customer that they had been spammed by Makro.

However, the company’s spokesperson said they do not engage in direct marketing.

“We do not cold call potential retail customers,” said Massmart.

“However, we do, for example, send Makro members email or WhatsApp correspondence, providing that they have opted into receiving correspondence.”

DStv owner MultiChoice said it uses various communication channels to keep customers updated with the latest offers and content updates, while always complying with Popia.

“We take customer privacy very seriously,” said MultiChoice. “We have implemented strong data security, we collect only necessary data, and we conduct regular training and audits across the business.”

MultiChoice also said it respects Do Not Contact lists and the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA) opt-out database to respect customer preferences.

“We do not use automated calling systems. We recommend that any customer who would like to opt out of communications registers with DMASA,” it said.

MTN said it had not increased its direct marketing initiatives and that it has a robust approach and established processes for managing these. 

“We are committed to protecting the privacy of all our stakeholders and ensuring the security of their personal information,” said MTN.

“We collect information to provide our customers with the most effective products and services. We aim to limit the collection of personal information to what is relevant and necessary to accomplish this purpose.”

Personal information is collected, processed lawfully, stored securely and not disclosed unlawfully to any third party, MTN assured.

From a Popia perspective, MTN said it has the following measures in place:

  • Customer data is only shared with contracted third-party partners. Contact rules have been agreed with these third parties. All information is shared via a secure portal.
  • Third parties are not permitted to contact customers who have opted out of receiving direct marketing messages or calls.

Vodacom said there hasn’t been a significant increase in electronic direct marketing campaigns relative to last year.

“Our marketing strategies and plans are in line with applicable regulatory requirements emanating from various laws, including Popia,” a spokesperson told MyBroadband.

“It is also noteworthy that Vodacom has experienced growth in our customer base and our new customers would receive direct marketing based on their direct marketing preferences.”

Regarding the steps it takes to comply with Popia, Vodacom said customers can provide their opt-in consent or opt-out from direct marketing entirely, and their permissions can be changed at any time via several channels. These include:

  • Opt out via VodaPay App
  • Opt out via USSD *135*181#
  • Opt out via call centre (082-135) and/or via retentions call centres (082-1958/9)
Blue Label Telecoms Headline

Blue Label said its direct marketing has not increased over the past year and that it is unable to provide insights on campaigns conducted by external entities.

“Blue Label consists of a wide range of diverse companies, certain of which extend offers to clients either independently or as components of targeted marketing initiatives,” it said.

“Blue Label takes all steps to comply in its operations with the 8 principles of lawful processing as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act and the applicable provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.”

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