Be careful, Tshwane metro warns as phishing site is shut down

The municipality has asked residents using the internet to make bill payments to be cautious, as it had a fraudulent “prepaid Tshwane” phishing website shut down recently.

The fake website tricked residents into “ordering” prepaid electricity and meters online by using phoney EFT details and info.

“Although there had been no reports of anyone using the site, investigations are ongoing,” said Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.

“The metro was, however, ensured that the website in question was taken down by the hosting company.”

As many residents rely more and more on the internet to pay their accounts, the metro warned them to be careful.

Residents were advised to report any suspicious sites claiming to be offering electricity and prepaid meters through Tshwane branding.

“The metro’s website is www.tshwane.gov.za and our payment platform is www.e-tshwane.co.za.”

Mashigo said the metro had made great strides in fighting cyber fraud since the establishment of its anti-cyber-attack security centre.

“Since its establishment, we can continuously monitor and improve security while preventing, detecting, analysing, and responding to cybersecurity incidents.”

The centre correlates data from security feeds.

It also incorporates systems such as vulnerability assessment, intrusion prevention systems, user behaviour analytics, endpoint detection and remediation as well as threat intelligence platforms.

Since the centre started, the metro responded to 1 955 cybersecurity incidents and 2 184 phishing e-mails.

“Our bona fide websites are clearly marked with the metro’s official colours with contact details visible.”

“When in doubt, customers can contact the city’s call centre to confirm authenticity. They can also obtain numbers for any respective department they wish to contact. All contact details are available on the website.”

He said the metro ran campaigns throughout the year to raise awareness of phishing e-mails and websites.

Residents can also visit any of the metro’s customer care walk-in centres, including its energy and electricity offices spread throughout the city to apply for new prepaid meters.

“We have successfully installed prepaid meters in both formal and informal areas in the previous financial year. The programme is continuing in this current financial year.”

The metro was also continuing with prepaid meter roll-outs for both formal and informal areas.

Mashigo described progress as “satisfactory”, but said there was room for improvement.

“We met with some resistance by residents who would deny us access to their properties.”

The meters are aimed at improving the metro’s revenue collection.

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