Vodacom confirms angry viral video man was victim of fraud

According to Vodacom, Piet Malan, who features in a viral video of him ranting outside a cellphone store in Westgate Shopping Mall, is a victim of fraud, reports the Roodepoort Record.

In the video, Malan can be seen expressing his dismay to all and sundry, repeatedly shouting “You take R10 000 from me every month”.

Vodacom has commented on the incident and other complaints that surfaced after the video was published.

In an email, a spokesperson wrote, “Vodacom has zero tolerance towards any type of illegal activity occurring on its network and we do our best to prevent it. Our investigation into the video which you are referring to has revealed that this incident took place in 2016. We can confirm that Malan was a victim of fraud on his account and that we have taken the decision to credit him for the amount as a goodwill gesture.”

Malan could not communicate further with the Record on the matter, as it had been handed over for a legal opinion.

“Vodacom would, however, like to use this opportunity to educate customers on how best they can protect themselves from fraud and manage their data.”

ALSO READ:

//

Below is the advice from the company.

How Vodacom protects its customers from fraud:

To protect customers from fraud, Vodacom notifies customers via SMS whenever a SIM swap attempt is made. Customers who receive the SMS but have not requested a SIM swap should alert the company about the fraudulent request by dialling the Customer Care number (111) from their cellphones.

Customers are encouraged to:

· Be conscious of their cellphone’s connectivity status. If customers unexpectedly cannot make or receive calls or messages (SMSes), they should not automatically assume that there is a problem with the network or handset. They should contact Vodacom immediately and enquire whether a SIM swap has been processed on their numbers.

· Never ignore an SMS message alerting them to a pending SIM swap request on their accounts.

· Contact Vodacom if they ever receive a call or SMS from a source purporting to be their service provider and requesting them to ignore SIM swap SMS notifications. Vodacom urges customers to contact them urgently to report such occurrences.

· Instruct their service providers to deactivate their SIM cards if an unauthorised or fraudulent SIM swap has taken place on their cellular numbers.

Vodacom also advises customers to open a case with the police in the event of suspected fraud. The company supports the police in all investigations intended to apprehend the syndicates for legal prosecution.

Data management tips:

· To avoid high data bills, stop apps from running in the background by restricting your background data. However, be aware that if you restrict background data, you will not get the best experience from your apps. For example, if you restrict your WhatsApp data, you will only be able to receive your WhatsApp messages when you open the app, instead of as soon as the message is sent. In other words, you will not see the pop ups that you currently see at the top of your screen as the messages arrive.

· Turn off automatic updates over data connections and rather use Wi-Fi for backing up lots of files or updating your apps.

· Check how much data each app uses, and adjust the settings to cheaper options where possible.

· Make sure you have a quality anti-virus programme on your device.

· Remember that streaming music and watching movies on your cellphone uses data very quickly. Check your settings and make sure that you always have a data bundle.

· Constantly check your data balance and buy more data as you need it.

Vodacom also encourages its customers to ensure that they have sufficient data bundles whenever they travel outside of South Africa. Customers can also keep a close eye on their data usage by downloading the My Vodacom App and activating travel roaming.