Uproar over MTN billing errors
Residents are being billed every month by MTN - although they are not even MTN subscribers and never have been.
In an incident that has occurred monthly for the past three months, Middelburg Observer editor Tobie van den Bergh has been billed amounts of up to R1 700 as the debit order goes off at month end.
MTN was contacted about the error and the payment was reversed – and yet the same payment occurs repeatedly.
“If it wasn’t for cell phone notifications I would have never known,” he says. “I have been advised to open a case at the police station”.
A case of fraud and theft is now being investigated by the Brooklyn SAPS in Pretoria as the incident was traced to have occurred at the MTN shop Menlyn Mall.
He is a Vodacom subscriber and has never opened a MTN contract. It is thus concerning as to how MTN obtained his personal details including banking details and had the debit order approved.
In another incident, also traced back to MTN shop Menlyn Mall, Coene Nolte, rugby coach for the HTS Middelburg’s first rugby team, also had his personal subscriber details falsely attributed to another account.
He says that he realised something was wrong when he was contacted by MTN, congratulating him on an upgrade. But upon further enquiry it was discovered that his ID book was duplicated and belonged to a 65 year man – Coene is 32.
The owner of a Vodashop in Middelburg, who asked not to be named. said that it is almost impossible for another Service Provider to obtain personal details of a Vodacom subscriber.
“Personal and all subscriber details is protected information. If the subscriber was never contracted to MTN then it really doesn’t make sense as to how they would obtain those details,” he said.
It is believed that there are several people in Middelburg that are affected by the problem – many of whom might still be unaware as they don’t have cell phone notifications.
There are also cases where subscribers are being overbilled by MTN or having all data/airtime depleted for no particular reason.
An employee at the MTN Shop at the Middelburg Mall said that they have received numerous complaints. “It is fraud and MTN cannot be held responsible for incidents that are out of our control,” the employee said.
An official request for comment that was emailed to MTN South Africa earlier this week is yet to be responded to.
• Are you also a victim? Tell us about your experience. Send an email to yaseen@mobserver.co.za or post to the Facebook Group Middelburg Observer. You can also contact Whatsapp 072 1102 710.
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