Econet blocks EcoCash lines

Published: 11 June 2018

Econet Wireless has reportedly blocked agent lines for some of its clients over alleged hoarding and selling of cash. Affected Econet agents who spoke to The Herald in Kwekwe and Gweru said they were now stranded after the company blocked their lines, locking up their money.

They said the company did not remit their commissions for the month of May.

"The problem with Econet is that they have this big brother mentality to the extant they do whatever they want with their clients.

"We just woke up with our agent lines blocked and all my money locked. I am not doing any business at the moment because my lines have been blocked with a lot of money in them," said Mr Trynos Makotore.

Another Econet client, Mrs Fadzayi Chitere said when she visited the Econet offices in Gweru, she was told that the line had been blocked over "suspicious" transactions.

"We wonder what kind of a suspicious transaction can that be when everyone uses either swipe or ecocash to do transactions. They are just acting like bullies," she fumed.

Contacted for comment, Econet spokesperson Mr Fungai Mandiveyi said the company carries out routine checks on agent transactions with the view of flashing out fraudulent transactions.

"We are not aware of any unusual action being taken by Econet of Ecocash with respect to agent lines. What I can confirm is that we routinely carry out system reviews and security checks on our Ecocash agent network to ensure transaction process integrity and to protect the agents and other customers of any irregular, erroneous and fraudulent activities," he said.

Mr Mandiveyi said the company reports any suspicious transactions detected to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

"From these (routine checks) we share Suspicious Transaction reports (STRs) with our regulators and this is something we do mandatorily so that appropriate action could be taken," he said.
- the herald

Tags: Econet,