Consumer watchdog warns unscrupulous agents

THE Consumer Council of Fiji (CCoF) has received complaints that certain mobile money agents were charging customers up to $5 additional over the counter withdrawal fee for the Governments COVID-Cash assistance.

CCoF chief executive officer Seema Shandil has warned against those practicing this.

She said this cash assistance by the Government was meant to provide some level of relief to those who were severely affected by the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.

“The government deposits $52 to the beneficiary accounts of eligible Fijians which is inclusive of the $2 withdrawal fee,” she said.

“This is being done to ensure those receiving this cash assistance are not burdened with the withdrawal fee.

“Hence, by placing any other additional charges on the beneficiaries, unscrupulous agents are simply robbing the Fijian consumers who are already suffering.”

Vodafone Fiji’s Head of Ecommerce, Shailendra Prasad, clarified that all M-PAiSA fees and charges applicable on M-PAiSA transactions were automatically deducted from the customer’s account.

“The customer is not required to pay any fee in cash over the counter to any agent and the agent must not demand any additional fee from the customer either for facilitating an MPAiSA transaction,” said Mr Prasad.

Digicel Fiji’s CEO Farid Mohammed also advised that the company had waived withdrawal fees for its MyCash customers who were receiving the Government cash assistance.

He said MyCash customers received $50 in their account and the full amount was available for use either via QR Pay, Bill Payments or cash withdrawal.

Digicel had not received any complaints of its agents charging extra fees but Mr Mohammed added that they would monitor the agents very closely to ensure there was no double dipping.

Those customers who were being charged extra for withdrawing the $50 government cash assistance were encouraged to immediately contact CCoF using the toll-free number 155 or lodge a complaint using the Consumer Council of Fiji mobile.

Complaints against the agents over-charging them could also be lodged by calling Vodafone toll-free on its customer care helpline 124 and 444 for Inkk Mobile customers and 123 for Digicel users.