CONSUMER FORUM
Under siege from fraudulent debit orders MY Standard Bank account has been under siege from companies fraudulently debiting me.
My bank account was debited R349 in July last year by Stratcol, which was processing the debit on behalf of a company called Destination Dynamics. The number Stratcol provided for Destination Dynamics did not work and the recorded message said the number did not exist. When I eventually reached it, Destination Dynamics claimed it was having problems with its phone lines and said the debit was done in error. At the same time, Stratcol told me the voice in the mandate recording wasn’t mine.
My money was refunded. I reported the matter to the police but nothing was done.
Destination Dynamics assured me that my details had been removed from its system and that the responsible agent had been disciplined.
In November and December, it again debited my account. I reported this to the police. Absa, which had facilitated the last two debits, said it considered the mandate to be genuine. After a meeting with Andre Naicker, CEO of Destination Dynamics, and Linganathan Chetty, along with their lawyer Faizal Kara, they said my dispute file had unknowingly been loaded onto the system. When I said their answers were insufficient, I was threatened with litigation.
In May this year, Stratcol eventually e-mailed me a recording of the so-called mandate and although the voice was not mine, the banking details were correct.
The Payments Association of South Africa has been informed and the police investigation is continuing — although they have still not taken a statement from Destination Dynamics.
Fourteen illegal debits by a range of companies, including Woza Trading, have been deducted from my account between May last year and now. None had mandates and have been either reversed or refunded.
Please let us rid society of this scourge, as there are people who cannot help themselves. The poorest of the poor suffer the most. —
David Limberg, Pretoria Why should I pay for someone else’s crime? I HAD R99.99 deducted twice from my FNB account and when I called the reference given to me by the bank, they say I have signed up for time-share and roadside assistance. Lucky for me, I cancelled the debit orders via online banking, but was charged R10. Now I am paying for someone else’s crime, which is ridiculous.
These people can use our account details without our knowledge, so I feel the bank should look at an alternative measure to help protect consumers.
Maybe we can load our own debit orders through online banking and then send the suppliers some sort of proof? — Anastasia McKenzie, by e-mail This one had scam written all over it I WAS going through my bank statement and saw a deduction of R299 with the reference “Sage Pay“. I have no idea how these people got my bank account details.
When I called Sage Pay it gave me three telephone numbers to call: the landline number was in Durban.
When I called, I was told the company’s systems were offline and that staff would get back to me.
The person on the phone asked for my bank account, which I refused to give.
I called again and a woman said the system was still offline. This has scam written all over it.
Someone is giving out banking details because, from the complaints I’ve read online, I’m not the only one. — Jonathan Brown, by e-mail Pay-as-you-go users will miss these charges I READ with interest your article last week on people being charged with unauthorised amounts on their bank statements.
In November 2013 I noticed that I was being charged R6 a day for content services on my MTN contract.
I was told that I had authorised the charges on the internet through a service provider, Mira Networks, which was the South African platform for an overseas company called Mobilenobo. I demanded a refund. Although Mobilenobo claimed it was a valid subscription, it made a “goodwill” refund in January this year.
I was able to pick up these charges because I get a detailed statement every month. What about pay-asyou-go customers? — Chris Opperman, by e-mail