by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MTN South Africa and law enforcement agencies have arrested individuals believed to be masterminds of a One Time Pin (OTP) scam syndicate.
The arrest has been made in collaboration with Crime Intelligence, Commercial Crimes and other Crime Prevention units of the South African Police Services.
This comes after a search and seizure warrant on properties believed to be headquarters of these OTP scam syndicates in Eldorado Park, Soweto.
Upon the investigation, MTN and the law enforcers obtained search warrants to raid five properties in Eldorado Park.
They are believed to be associated with front businesses, suppliers, call centres and operations of an OTP scam syndicate.
In most OTP incidents, criminals claim to be MTN call centre agents.
Their modus operandi includes requesting the customer’s security details under the pretence that they were blocking the processing of a fraudulent SIM swap request that was being made on the subscriber’s number without their knowledge or authorisation.
The scammers then use the customer’s responses, which they obtained during the call, to access the mobile and/or banking applications to transfer funds illegally.
MTN has urged customers not to respond to unsolicited calls and requests for their security details from an unknown number.
“Communication to customers is usually carried via platforms such as social media posts and press statements,” it stated.
The OTP scam is one of the prevalent fraudulent tactics in the telecommunication industry.
– CAJ News