The clients of Pepephone are suffering a striking case of unfair competition, for which they receive a call impersonating the operator, who announces a false increase in prices with the aim of stealing customers.
And the same customer will later receive a call with an offer to switch to another company. Having thought that Pepephone has raised prices unilaterally, the possibilities of accepting portability grow.
Pepephone has begun to warn of this practice, which appears to be a case of fraud according to the information available. This is how the company explains the problem:
Some of our customers have alerted us that in recent weeks they have been contacted by impersonating our identity. This is a call in which they pose as Pepephone telephone agents and indicate that their monthly fee is going to be raised immediately. Later they receive another call presenting them with an offer from a competitor.
Of course, Pepephone doesn't like to steal customers with these fraudulent techniques, but they also do it discrediting the company, because those who impersonate your identity make you think that you have breached your commitments.
On the one hand, one of Pepephone's principles is not to raise prices, something that has so far complied with. In fact, Pepephone lowers its Inimitable rate for each year of seniority in the company, since it focuses on customer loy alty instead of making temporary recruitment offers.
This means that Pepephone does not call its customers by phone, as it tries not to bother them unnecessarily, and limits communications to email.
Pepephone has not accused any specific competitor of impersonating its identity, but does ask that receivers provide details, to resolve the incident as soon as possible.
It is unlikely that a large operator is directly behind this campaign, as if such a fraud were discovered it would seriously discredit the brand.
However, often attracting customers is subcontracted to third-party companies, with little control over their way of working, since it seeks to obtain new portability at all costs.
Instances of unethical business practices are not uncommon in sectors such as communications, electricity or gas, so we must remain vigilant.
At the moment, Pepephone is probably working on raising its fiber to 600 Mbps, so it is serious that they impersonate their identity and announce price increases that are not real.
The sector has become very competitive, and Pepephone is part of the MásMóvil Group, which gained 1.4 million customers in 2019. If we add to this that Eusk altel wants to become the fifth Spanish operator, and is going to launch Virgen as its brand nationwide, the fight for customers is going to be tough.
In any case, the phishing suffered by Pepephone is a reprehensible practice, and although the operator has not announced any concrete action, it would not be strange if this matter ended up in the hands of the competition authorities.
