Vodacom, traditional healer in cellphone number ownership row

Mobile network giant Vodacom has seemingly failed to stop a relentless syndicate targeting unsuspecting, desperate and poor people seeking help from a famed KwaZulu-Natal traditional healer, whose business cellphone numbers have been mysteriously taken over.

The Citizen has reported how hundreds of people in KwaZulu-Natal allegedly lost more than R500 000 to a conman posing as well-known local traditional healer and president of SA Traditional Healers Institute, Gogo Bathini Mbatha.

The conman’s masterstroke was to take over the traditional healer’s cellphone number listed on his culture, rituals and health YouTube channel, which has 50 000 subscribers and attracts more than 450 000 viewers.

The next thing was to pretend to be Mbatha, coerce and sometimes pressure unsuspecting people to make cash deposits at banks and through cash-send features at retail stores.

The scam, which started around September last year, has seen scores of people losing between R2 000 and R70 000.

After The Citizen exposed the scam, alerting potential victims, the syndicate took over Mbatha’s second number, although it had been protected by Vodacom.

“Now the syndicate has taken over my second number, pretending to be me and taking money from people. My yard is always full of people demanding their money or that I help them as they have already paid. Many have threatened to kill me,” the frustrated healer said.

He said he bought the two SIM cards, which had been registered for Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (Rica), from a street vendor in his hometown of Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mbatha said he started experiencing problems of someone posing as him and taking money from people and, in January this year, was requested to bring in his identity document so he could confirm the SIM cards as his.

“The scam continued as though I had done nothing and now the syndicate has taken over my second number, which I had been using as a substitute.

“I have tried to open criminal cases but police told me they can only lodge a complaint from an actual victim,” he said.

Vodacom said the matter was receiving necessary attention and that at issue was that the numbers were in dispute, with two people claiming ownership. But Mbatha said Vodacom had failed to explain why the other party was pretending to be him and taking money from people.

“Since the matter was brought to our attention, we have established that the personal information on our records for [Mbatha] do not match those linked to the alleged prepaid line. The number in question was initially activated on our network as well as Rica’d under a different person in January 2020,” a Vodacom spokesperson who asked not to be named, said.

He emphasised that “this is a dispute of ownership of a mobile number” and that Mbatha had been advised to update his Rica details.

“Once the Rica details are updated, we will be able to establish and confirm the correct ownership of the line,” the spokesperson said.

But Mbatha said Vodacom could have simply blocked the numbers, called in him and the other person claiming ownership of the number to establish the truth.

“This is why I believe this is the work of a syndicate, working with someone within Vodacom.

“There are pertinent questions here. I have submitted my identity documents proving that this is my number. Why is this other person pretending to be me and taking people’s money? Vodacom can track this person but has not done so,” he said.