The City of Tshwane has received numerous complaints about individuals purporting to be officials from the City’s revenue collection team, in possession of legitimate information about properties to be disconnected due to arrears on their accounts. These imposters will then demand payments from customers to avoid disconnection.
The following are some of the reported modus operandi of these perpetrators:
- Send a WhatsApp message with the photo of a tampered prepaid meter or job card indicating impending disconnection
- Offer to make the evidence of the tampered electricity prepaid meters to disappear for a fee
- Offer to install electricity prepaid meters for a fee
- Offer to bypass the prepaid meters or prevent them from counting down units
- Offer to make a customer’s information disappear if they have tempered with a prepaid meter
- Offer to unblock prepaid meters for a fee to enable customers to purchase electricity
- Offer bulk prepaid electricity units at a discounted price
These fraudsters then persuade the victims to make payments through e-wallets, deposits into private bank accounts, or cash payments. We want to warn the public not to engage with these perpetrators. Customers should make all payments related to their accounts only at the City’s cashiers or approved retail shops, using their account number as reference.
In cases where a customer’s account is in arrears, they should visit any of the City’s customer relation management offices to arrange payment plans under our credit control and debt arrangements policies to avoid disconnections.
Customers are further advised to report any suspicious offers, including promises not to be disconnected or illegal reconnections to the City of Tshwane’s Anti-fraud and Corruption hotline at 080 8749263, or to the Tshwane Metro Police Department at 012 358 7095/7096. Alternatively, customers can report these criminal activities to the South Africa Police Service by calling 10111.
The City is currently following up on all the leads received regarding this syndicate and has engaged its forensic investigating office to identify any officials who may be working with these criminals to defraud customers.
We wish to warn those who are trying to extort money from our customers that they will be arrested, charged and prosecuted, as their actions constitute criminal conduct.