Johannesburg - The National Credit Regulator (NCR) has warned people to be vigilant of the stealthy methods employed by fraudsters when deploying scams on digital platforms such as WhatsApp, email, fake websites, SMS and telephone.
“With the advent of digital sophistication in the consumer credit domain, the convenience and privacy of being able to conduct financial transactions has been affected by cyber fraudsters on the hunt to ruthlessly exploit already financially stressed consumers,” warned Poppy Kweyama, manager: Education and Communication at the NCR.
The regulator said these scams target vulnerable, desperate and over-indebted consumers applying for credit or through services such as debt counselling.
The NCR said the modus operandi of these fraudsters differ in accordance with the scam.
For example, consumers applying for loans are often asked to make an “upfront payment” with a promise of the loan money being released into their bank accounts after paying the “upfront fee”. The “upfront fee” is claimed to pay for things such as VAT, insurance for the loaned amount, release of funds from overseas to South Africa and attorney fees.
“Once the initial ‘upfront fee’ is paid by the consumer, there are often repeated demands for more money, or the fraudster will vanish without a trace, leaving the unsuspecting consumer or sometimes the already suspecting consumer with increased financial distress, more debt, and egg on their face because of a loan that never materialised,” said Kweyama.
She added that there are also bogus debt counsellors or call centres linked to registered debt counsellors who use different tactics to lure consumers into debt review.
“They promise things such as automatically reducing interest rates, writing off debt, claiming to remove consumers from debt review and issue debt review clearance certificates outside of what is permitted in law, cloning registered debt counsellors’ registration numbers, etc. The results of these debt-counselling scams range from a consumer being conned out of money, or being placed under debt review without actually being over-indebted or understanding what this entails and thus leads to consumers saying that they were placed under debt review without their consent. Some scams involve the cloning of NCR officials’ details and unlawful use of the NCR letterhead and charging unsuspecting consumers for services that are meant to be free,” said Kweyama.
Kweyama said if people are unsure of offers online, they may contact the National Credit Regulator at [email protected] for clarity or to verify the registration of the company and legality of the service offered.
“Should you be a victim or have unwittingly fallen prey to one of the scams described, you should contact your local SAPS for assistance,” she said.
The Star