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Cape Town - Telkom [JSE:TKG] has urged consumers to be on high alert for fraudsters trying to swindle money or obtain personal details from them.
Consumers must be wary of false emails appearing to be from Telkom, the telecoms parastatal warned in a statement on Wednesday.
“The latest modus operandi that fraudsters are using to target our customers and the public at large, involves a phishing scam via email,” said Telkom’s group executive for enterprise risk management Thokozani Mvelase.
The company has recorded an uptick of queries from customers about a fake email claiming to be from Telkom. An example of this is shown below:
Attention
Notification from Telkom SA hard office Account department, Our apologies for the inconveniences, kindly send us your last three months Telkom bills. As there is a mistake over billing (charge) some of our clients.
As well state your last payment paid to us.
Kindly scan the copy and send it back to us by e-mail, if on your mail forward it to us.
Thanks For Your Corporation
Jabulane Mabuza.
The emails appear to be sent from "account.department@telkom.co.za". However, investigations by Telkom revealed that the address is linked to a Gmail account.
“We would never ask customers to send us their statements – we have that already," said Mvelase.
"Also, reimbursements are not credited into our customers’ bank accounts. In the event of a credit, Telkom passes it on to the customers’ telephone account for the next month,” he said.
Mvelase said that usernames and passwords are unique and must always be kept confidential.
Disclosing this information could result in consumers running the risk of bandwidth theft, or outside parties accessing their emails.
Members of the public should contact Telkom’s fraud hotline on 0800 124 000 or their nearest police station if they are suspicious about requests.
Telkom's warning comes amid a spate of phishing scams aimed at conning unsuspecting consumers.
SA's anti-phishing service recorded a total of 1 942 new phishing attacks in the country for the first half of 2012. This equates to an estimated financial loss of R71m.
In addition to this, the Symantec Intelligence Report for June 2012 identified South Africa as the second-most targeted country globally, with one in 170.9 emails identified as phishing attacks.
In September, Kevin Hurwitz, CEO of Wonga.com South Africa, provided tips to avoid becoming a victim:
How to be more scam-alert
Consumers must be wary of false emails appearing to be from Telkom, the telecoms parastatal warned in a statement on Wednesday.
“The latest modus operandi that fraudsters are using to target our customers and the public at large, involves a phishing scam via email,” said Telkom’s group executive for enterprise risk management Thokozani Mvelase.
The company has recorded an uptick of queries from customers about a fake email claiming to be from Telkom. An example of this is shown below:
Attention
Notification from Telkom SA hard office Account department, Our apologies for the inconveniences, kindly send us your last three months Telkom bills. As there is a mistake over billing (charge) some of our clients.
As well state your last payment paid to us.
Kindly scan the copy and send it back to us by e-mail, if on your mail forward it to us.
Thanks For Your Corporation
Jabulane Mabuza.
The emails appear to be sent from "account.department@telkom.co.za". However, investigations by Telkom revealed that the address is linked to a Gmail account.
“We would never ask customers to send us their statements – we have that already," said Mvelase.
"Also, reimbursements are not credited into our customers’ bank accounts. In the event of a credit, Telkom passes it on to the customers’ telephone account for the next month,” he said.
Mvelase said that usernames and passwords are unique and must always be kept confidential.
Disclosing this information could result in consumers running the risk of bandwidth theft, or outside parties accessing their emails.
Members of the public should contact Telkom’s fraud hotline on 0800 124 000 or their nearest police station if they are suspicious about requests.
Telkom's warning comes amid a spate of phishing scams aimed at conning unsuspecting consumers.
SA's anti-phishing service recorded a total of 1 942 new phishing attacks in the country for the first half of 2012. This equates to an estimated financial loss of R71m.
In addition to this, the Symantec Intelligence Report for June 2012 identified South Africa as the second-most targeted country globally, with one in 170.9 emails identified as phishing attacks.
In September, Kevin Hurwitz, CEO of Wonga.com South Africa, provided tips to avoid becoming a victim:
How to be more scam-alert
- When an email or SMS requests personal details or payment, contact the organisation in question directly to verify the authenticity of the communication;
- Never provide or verify personal details via SMS or unsecure websites (a secure website will have an image of a lock on the browser status bar, or the URL will read “https” as opposed to “http”);
- Never deposit money into a bank account, especially a private bank account, unless the communication has been verified with a legitimate organisation;
- Never click on links, download files or open attachments from unknown sources;
- Never enter personal information on a pop-up screen - a legitimate organisation will never request details lin this manner; and
- Check bank statements regularly to ensure no unauthorised transactions have taken place.
- Fin24
