Vodacom fraudster denies guilt
2009-08-11 21:21
Johannesburg - A man, accused of intercepting Vodacom clients' text messages to defraud them of millions, on Tuesday denied involvement in fraudulent activity.
Testifying in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court, Mbusi Bhengu said he intended pleading not guilty to the fraud charged lodged against him.
He also denied colluding with a Vodacom engineer, Mbokodana Khoza, to defraud Vodacom clients of R1.8m.
The two are alleged to be part of a syndicate that stole from unsuspecting mobile phone users.
According to a Vodacom statement, bank customers would give their pin and passwords to the men, posing as bank officials through electronic means.
The men opened bank accounts with ATM cards. They then obtained the cellphone numbers through cellphone numbers or phishing - the acquiring of sensitive information such as passwords by masquerading as a business in electronic communication.
Transfer
A Vodacom employee, allegedly Khoza, is alleged to have then created temporary SIM cards which were a copy of the banking customers'.
The men, using the stolen banking information, arranged for the "one time" password to be sent to the customer which would be intercepted by the Vodacom employee.
The password was used to transfer money from a bank customer's account to the men. They then threw away the ATM card.
Dressed snazzily in an expensive looking leather jacket and crocodile shoes, Bhengu said he could afford to pay bail of R10 000, R5 000 less than the amount his co-accused Khoza paid on July 31.
- SAPA