Vodacom's Fraudulent Charges - The Saga Continues

Vodacom's Fraudulent Charges - The Saga Continues

‘VODACOM REJECTS, IN the strongest possible terms, the inference that it seeks to share in the spoils of fraudulent activity on its network,” CEO Shameel Joosub told Noseweek shortly before we went to press. He was responding to questions related to widespread complaints by Vodacom customers who are victims of fraudulent “content provider” deductions from their airtime.

“We have a zero-tolerance approach and take a hard line in the event that a third party contravenes any agreement they may have with Vodacom or the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA’s) code of conduct,” Joosub assured Noseweek.

“We have suspended and terminated the services of WASPs in the past and will continue to investigate reported transgressions and then ensure we take appropriate action.

“We also ensure that affected customers are fully refunded on first contact with Customer Care; in fact we pass the large majority of credits to customers. Standard practice is to refund the customer first and then investigate the query/allegation later.

“We continuously enhance our systems to eliminate fraudulent activity. For example, we make regular improvements to our double opt-in solution to make it clear to customers what it is they are subscribing to, the subscription term and the amount they will pay.”