Residents targeted by fraudsters posing as officials
Imposters promise to hide tampered prepaid meters or scrap disconnection orders if victims pay them through e-wallet or cash.
The metro is warning residents of a revenue collection scam involving people claiming to be metro officials.
According to the city, they have the correct information about properties due to be disconnected because of overdue accounts.
According to metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo, these imposters contact customers with arrears accounts and demand payments to avoid being disconnected.
Mashigo said these fraudsters usually send a WhatsApp message with the photo of a tampered prepaid meter or job card for the disconnection of a property.
They will then offer, for a fee, to make the evidence of the tampered electricity prepaid meters ‘disappear’, or say that they will lose the disconnection order if the customer has tampered with a prepaid meter.
The scammers have also been known to offer the installation of prepaid electricity meters at a fee, offer to bypass prepaid meters, or to make prepaid meters stop measuring used units, or sell the client bulk prepaid electricity at a discounted price.
“These fraudsters will then persuade the victims to make payments through e-wallet, deposit into a private bank account, or make cash payments,” he explained.
Mashigo warned the public not to entertain these perpetrators.
“Customers should make all payments that are related to their accounts at the city’s cashiers, or approved retail shops using their account number as a reference.”
He added that in situations where a customer’s account is in arrears, the customer should approach any of the city’s customer relation management offices to make use of the metro’s credit control and debt arrangement policies to avoid disconnections.
He added that customers can report any suspicious offers to the city’s anti-fraud and corruption hotline on 080 874 9263, the TMPD on 012 358 7095 / 7096, or SAPS on 10111.
Mashigo said the city is following all the leads it has received regarding this syndicate, and has engaged its forensic investigating unit to identify the city’s officials who might be working with these criminals to defraud customers.
He closed by saying, “We wish to warn those who are trying to extort money from our customers that they will be arrested, charged and prosecuted, as their actions border on criminality.”
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