How Zelda la Grange fell for a sophisticated phone scam

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JEREMY MAGGS: If you think you’re too savvy to fall for a scam, well, take a listen to this. Former aide to Nelson Mandela, Zelda la Grange, has a warning. The author and speaker says she lost R6 000 after a convincing caller posing as a Vodacom agent told her she’d won an iPhone, grocery vouchers and cash.

She says the operation sounded legitimate, right down to the call centre environment, but she also admits she’s furious with herself for falling for it.

She’s now speaking publicly because she says she doesn’t want others making the same mistake. Zelda, a very warm welcome to you, and you say you should have known better. In the first instance, what made you believe them?

ZELDA LA GRANGE: Well, firstly, that they had my name and my number because I’ve never received spam calls on this number.

Then immediately the guy tells me, this call is recorded, so he uses all the right language, and then he says that, remember, Vodacom will never ask for your personal details. He is so sophisticated. He is so eloquent in his speech that you believe that this person is for real.

JEREMY MAGGS: Was there any point in this conversation when something might have felt wrong, but you ignored it?

ZELDA LA GRANGE: Well, the fact that I picked up the phone, that’s where you should actually start. It’s not great to admit that you’ve been so stupid. But as you say, I want people to know that, when you answer a call, be polite.

Because I also feel sorry for people in call centres because they have to deal with rude people all day. But our society is in such a state that you can’t trust people anymore.

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So I should have said politely, thank you very much, but I’ll go to Vodacom and hear [from them]. But the excitement and then greed, greed is part of everyday life for all of us, and people are suffering.

If it was so easy to convince me into something like this, other people could be very vulnerable as well.

At that point, when you pick up the phone, you should know to be alert and to be assertive.

But I gave him time to talk because he also he caught me at the end of the day at a very vulnerable moment. I was just off a call with someone else, and I decided, let me listen to what this guy has got to say.

I’m not even an iPhone user, so when he offers me the iPhone, I’m already thinking who I’m going to give this iPhone to. Who needs an iPhone? Who’s an iPhone user in my circle of friends. So immediately your mind goes and then, as I say, greed is a terrible thing. I’m thinking what I can do with R30 000 now. It’s a terrible situation.

JEREMY MAGGS: It takes some courage for a person to blame their own greed. You don’t think you’re being a little hard on yourself?

ZELDA LA GRANGE: Well, I have to be hard on myself because I should know better. I’ve always said that I’d never be caught. I thought I was savvy. I thought I’m street smart, but clearly, I’m not. So I like being hard on myself because it’s the only time I learn my lesson.

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The R6 000 is not making or breaking me, but it’s an inconvenience. For any other person, it could be make or break. I don’t want other people to have to go through this and that’s why I’m speaking up, even at my own expense.

JEREMY MAGGS: Zelda, let me rewind slightly. What exactly did they persuade you to do that cost you R6 000?

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ZELDA LA GRANGE: That’s the problem. On my banking app, I’ve never used any features of payment or vouchers or anything. So when he asked me to go into the banking app, he also said to me, remember, Vodacom will never ask for your personal details or login details. So you are at ease.

I go into my banking app and now I’m buying vouchers, something I’ve never done before. By now, I’ve moved onto my computer because he just gave me a reference number for the iPhone that I won, that I could go and pick up at the Vodacom shop closest to me, and he knows exactly where I should pick up this phone.

So again, he completely puts you at ease. Then I’m into my banking app and he says I must buy these vouchers, and I buy the vouchers. Then he asks for a reference number.

As I’ve never used this feature, I quite comfortably gave him the reference number. Then as I sit in front of my computer, because now I’m writing down stuff, I get two emails from my bank to say that these vouchers have been allocated to me. So I don’t think the money has left my account now.

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Then when he went over to the e-wallet, which I have used before, he asked me to enter someone else’s cell phone number for e-wallet. I said, no, no, no, wait, I’ve used this before, this is not how it’s supposed to be. By then I suspect that there’s something wrong here.

But then the pressure, that’s my other thing, I know I don’t panic well, so now he’s putting pressure on me. [He says], ma’am, the system is running and if we cut the call now, the money won’t be paid to you, and we have to start the process over, and you lose the whole deal.

So now I’m anxious and I give him the e-wallet reference as well. Then I realised, because then I get a notification from my bank that this money is out of my account. Then immediately, I knew, okay, I’ve been scammed.

So I put the phone down and I rushed to the closest [Vodacom] store to try and cash in the vouchers. Jeremy, it was literally 10 minutes later and the vouchers were cashed in already.

JEREMY MAGGS: Do you think, Zelda, the banking system should have stopped this sooner? You do say your bank did pick up suspicious activity, towards the end of this.

ZELDA LA GRANGE: I don’t know how they would know because on any given day, you can go onto your banking app and do stuff.

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But I don’t know how they would know if a person from a new number calls because they also change numbers all the time. So I don’t know what the solution is.

I laid charges, I opened a case at the at the police station and hopefully if enough people complain about the situation, because you can see on my initial Facebook post, there are hundreds and thousands of people who have been scammed.

So if we all lay charges, the police can’t ignore it because these people need to be caught.

JEREMY MAGGS: Do you think there is a responsibility that telecom companies have when criminals impersonate their brands so convincingly?

ZELDA LA GRANGE: I also think so. That’s why I reported it immediately to Vodacom, and Vodacom actually responded.

There’s a website on which you can report it, and Vodacom responded immediately and also gave me their case number. The next day, they had blocked the numbers already. I tried to call them and the numbers were disconnected.

So it seems that the Vodacom scam is a thing that happens these days, and I think if they work together with the police and together with the bank, surely, they should be able to trace these people and catch them.

JEREMY MAGGS: Has this changed the way that you trust legitimate banks, retailers and call centres?

ZELDA LA GRANGE: Yeah, now it’s a whole new different thing for me. I don’t answer calls. I’m not good at answering my phone as it is, but yesterday someone called from a call centre, from a company I use, and I said, I’m sorry, I’ll go to the shop or the company if I need anything, I’m sorry, I’m not interested.

I feel sorry for the call centre people because they have to deal with the consequences of all of this, not being trusted and people being rude to them.

But definitely, I won’t answer phones, and I’m not winning anything. I don’t often win or I’ve never won anything in my life, so this was too good to be true. And, you know how the saying goes, if it’s too good to be true, it is.

JEREMY MAGGS: Precisely. Zelda la Grange, thank you very much indeed. Appreciate your time.

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