Beware of imposters
Residents from all over the City of Johannesburg, including some areas in Roodepoort, have been complaining about people pretending to be City Power employees.
City Power, with the help of the authorities, has embarked on an anti-corruption drive to prevent the occurrence of criminal incidents.
Residents from all over the City of Johannesburg, including some areas in Roodepoort, have been complaining about people pretending to be City Power employees.
According to Yumna Sheik, the City Power spokesperson, they have received information on a group of fraudsters posing as employees with the intention to rob customers. These imposters have swindled customers out of money by pretending they are collecting payment on an unpaid bill, even if the customer is using a prepaid meter. “They have reportedly threatened to cut off power supplies to the residents who refuse to pay these phantom electricity bills,” said Sheik.
“We appeal to our customers to never – under any circumstances – make cash payments towards outstanding bills to contractors or officials. Rather visit the City of Johannesburg’s walk-in centres to make payments,” Sheik warned.
City Power has now partnered with the authorities on an anti-corruption drive, known as Operation Clean-Up, that is focused on the acceleration of the utility’s fight against the misconduct of its officials. Periodic data analytics in high-risk areas, such as metering and supply-chain management departments, are some of the proactive measures that have been taken.
Customers are urged to report criminal incidents or corrupt behaviour of contractors or officials immediately. Customers who aid officials and service providers in carrying out unauthorised transactions will be criminally prosecuted. City Power has been able to uncover many corrupt officials trying to defraud unsuspecting customers as a result of this anti-corruption drive.
“Customers are urged to properly check contractor cards to verify the identity of the persons before allowing them onto their property. All City Power contractors are expected to carry their identification cards with them at all times and each card has an expiration date. If a customer receives a request to pay cash, it should be recognised as fraudulent behaviour and be reported immediately,” said Sicelo Xulu, City Power’s Managing Director.
Incidents of corruption and fraud, or suspicious-looking officials, can be reported anonymously on the tip-off hotline at 0800 002 587 or an email can be sent to anticorruption@tip-offs.com.
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