Vodacom says it dismissed 631 staff and contractors and arrested 15 suspects for various irregular activities and fraud at the company.
This was revealed in the network operator’s annual results for the 2023/24 financial year, and Vodacom says the staff faced disciplinary action for various reasons.
“From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, the Group’s corporate security divisions investigated over 8,652 cases of alleged fraud or irregularities, of which 6,872 related to external cases and 1,780 to internal cases,” Vodacom said in its report.
It added that the cases were reported through various channels, including direct reports from customers, service providers, online reports, business referrals, Vodacom’s fraud management system, and external whistleblowing.
MyBroadband asked the network operator if it could elaborate on some of the charges for those arrested and why it dismissed 631 employees.
“Dismissible offences vary significantly, ranging from assisting in or being complicit in ID and SIM swap fraud to fraudulently providing free airtime to friends and family,” a Vodacom spokesperson said.
“Vodacom Group has zero tolerance for fraudulent activity on networks in each of the countries in which it operates and remains committed to taking appropriate action to ensure the protection of its customers.”
It added that its systems feature advanced technology to detect and identify internal and external wrongdoing.
“We investigate each of these so that we ultimately satisfy what customers and regulators expect of us,” the spokesperson said.
Regarding replacing the dismissed employees, Vodacom said hiring will vary from country to country as the decisions happen at an individual operating company level.