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MTN fraud: I never signed for an iPhone, says customer

An MTN customer who fell victim to a fraudulent upgrade is worried over his credit record. He shares his story:

Teboho Moletsane turned to Fin24 after reading up on fraudulent mobile contract upgrades.

He was suspicious when R1 547.00 was debited from his bank account earlier in January.

"I was wary of the debit and immediately went to the MTN store in Menlyn Maine where I was told that there had been an upgrade for an IPhone 7 Plus which was done at the Lakeside Mall MTN store on the 22 November 2016."

He was told to produce an affidavit and a certified copy of his ID which he did. He then reversed the payment and paid what was owed by him, which was R740.00.

However, he said it didn't come as a surprise when he received the message below:

"I never signed for an upgrade," he told Fin24. "This affects my credit record and that is my main concern."

Moletsane further blamed MTN of being "incompetent" because his case was reported to MTN's fraud department, but he said wasn't communicated to their finance department.

Ideshini Naidoo, chief customer experience officer, of MTN SA responded:

MTN can confirm that a case of fraudulent upgrade was brought to the attention of its Customer Services department on the 5th of January 2017.

"Upon investigation, it was confirmed that a fraudulent upgrade was processed on the customer's account on the 22nd of November 2016. MTN has reversed the upgrade and the customer’s account has been credited with R818.04, which amounts to the difference in subscription on the 17th of January 2016."

Naidoo advised Moletsane and others who are in a similar position to apply to register for a protection registration with the South African Fraud Prevention Services in order to preserve their credit history.

"MTN urges customers to be vigilant and refrain from sharing their personal details with unverified third parties, click on suspicious links, respond to requests to provide login details over the phone or deposit cash to redeem a prize from a competition."

Disclaimer: All letters and comments published in Fin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.

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