WeeklySA_AdminMODUS OPERANDI: Phones collected from various MTN stores without producing green bar-coded identity documents or conducting biometric tests.
An internal investigation has been launched against three MTN employees who are accused of Identity theft and bought four cellular phones worth approximately R100 000 at the expense of its client.
Sharon Gumede, 38, of Midrand, said she got a rude awakening at on January 25 this year when MTN debited R2500 from her bank account without obtaining authorisation from her. She is also accusing MTN fraud department of being complacent as they have not investigated her complaint after providing them with the names of the employees who defrauded her.
“It’s been four months since I lodged a formal complaint, but no one has bothered to respond to it,” she said.
She said what boggles the mind is that these three employees have allegedly defrauded three more consumers in the same mode of operation and all the contracts are initiated at the Mall of Africa. Gumede said the phones are then collected from various MTN stores without producing a green bar-coded identity document or conducting a biomatrix test.
The thieves bought an Apple’s flagship iphone 12 costing a whooping R45 000 just two days after it hit the shelves on the 18th December last year, Gumede said. She said the fraudsters started to steal from their MTN on December 9 and got comfortable with it as they proceeded to damage her credit record without impunity as MTN failed to smell this rot as it continued happening below their nose.
The cell phones were collected from the Mall of Africa, Tembisa Mall and at Phoenix Mall in Durban by merely producing an uncertified copy of an ID bearing her particulars and a fraudulent photo of the person receiving them.
Gumede said though MTN has rolled out instore biometrics as an additional layer of security to stop criminal activity, these employees were a step ahead.
“If a biometric test was done, the official dispensing the phones would have noticed that their fingerprints do not match with the ID copy they produced and information kept at Home Affairs,” she said.
More annoying is that when she reported the fraudulent activity to the Boulders MTN branch they refused to log the fraud, but referred to the Mall of Africa store branch near her. At the branch I was made to do a biometric test and her profile came up with no contract on their side, but after pinning in her ID three contracts popped up with the particulars of all three consultants who initiated these contracts, she said.
They too, refused to log a fraud report on her file, but referred her to the Mall of Africa where the fraudulent activity occurred. “Clearly no one wants these fraudulent activities to end, sadly I was left powerless and hopeless as MTN careless about the interest of their consumers”, she said.
Interestingly, the consultant who assisted her at their contract department was happy to volunteer the names of the three miscreants and went further to disclose that she was the third victim of this fraud, she said.
Describing their modus operandi, Gumede was told that the employees initiant an online account using fake documents, then sent their cahoots to the store to collect the device at a chosen branch.
“Clearly this is an inside job,”she said Gumede gave the names of these employees, but Weekly SA Mirror is not at liberty to name and shame them as their are still investigated for the alleged fraud. “When an employee commits fraud or a crime you report it instead of being an accomplice,” Gumede said. Sending a complaint to MTN’s fraud department has not helped as they kept requesting one and the same documents they requested when she lodged an online complaint.
The three employees bought a Sumsang galaxy S20, worth R20 000 plus G4 sim, a Sumsang note 20, ultra which costs R27 000 and a Samsung S20 FE at R20 000 between December and January.
“Each one initiated a separate account using the same fraudulent payslip, ID document, but my correct banking detail and my mother’s Durban postal address while I have been staying for years in Midrand,” she said. Gumede said she doesn’t know how her particulars were compromised because she does not have an account at MTN. She was also compelled to close her bank account from which the unauthorised debit orders were docked.
“This has not only affected my credit record, but has caused me sleepless nights as MTN has not bothered to respond to a number of emails I have sent to their fraud department,” said a disillusioned Gumede. They refused to give her documents that were used to open a fraud contract, making it difficult for her to open a fraud case at the police station for investigation.
Her misery ended a week ago after Weekly SA Mirror stepped in.
