Artist Jacinta Numina-Waugh was terrified when Optus and its debt collector pursued her for months.

“I felt really scared,” she said.

“I thought, ‘this is it, they’re gonna lock me up’.”

The Anmatyerre woman has decided to speak out about her alleged mistreatment by Optus, which began more than 18 months ago and remains unresolved.

She said she wanted to warn others.

“I’m a very shy person, but I need to do something and be heard,” she said.

Last January, Ms Numina-Waugh went into a Darwin store looking for a mobile phone.

“I walked in as a First Nations person and I was an easy target,” she said.

She said the Optus salesperson put her under pressure to sign up for two phones.

“(They were) just giving me a mouthful.

“The second phone, that would be a bonus.”

Ms Numina-Waugh signed up for two Samsung Galaxy phones, including the top of the range S22 Ultra and four mobile sim cards.

She was put on a business plan which required her to pay $130.36 per month for the phones.

While she has her own Australian Business Number to sell her artwork, she was receiving Centrelink benefits and couldn’t afford the plan.

The artist grew up in the Utopia region north-east of Alice Springs and English is not her first language, making it difficult for her to read complex documents.

“[They] didn’t read the paperwork to me,” Ms Numina-Waugh said.

Financial counsellor Toni Cork believes the sales conduct was so harsh, it could have been a breach of consumer law, known as unconscionable conduct.

“[Ms Numina-Waugh] was [allegedly] treated unconscionably because they signed her up for a plan that she didn’t ask for or need and couldn’t afford,” Ms Cork said.

“She’s a sole trader. She didn’t need more than one phone. She didn’t need three extra sims.”

Ms Numina-Waugh’s case is one of several Ms Cork has referred to the consumer watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

‘Cannot believe another telco has gone down this path’

Optus is being sued by the ACCC over allegations it engaged in unconscionable sales conduct involving vulnerable customers, including Indigenous Australians.

The consumer watchdog claims Optus sold goods and services to hundreds of consumers they “often did not want or need” and a commission-based remuneration system incentivised bad sales behaviour, including the manipulation of credit checks.

Telstra was fined $50 million in 2021 for its mistreatment of more than 100 Indigenous customers between 2016 and 2018.

Consumer advocates say the lawsuit against Optus is more concerning because the telco sector was warned when Telstra was successfully prosecuted.

Bettina Cooper is a Boandik woman and financial counsellor with Mob Strong Debt Help.

“I cannot believe that another telco has gone down this path,” she said.

“I think any penalty, when it was already a warning shot fired [with Telstra], should be so severe that it stops them from ever doing it again.”

Sold to debt collectors

As the Optus bills quickly piled up, Ms Numina-Waugh was forced to cut back on food to keep making repayments.

Stressed out, she raised the alarm — contacting Optus less than two months after she was sold the phones.

She asked to switch to pre-paid but that required her to pay thousands of dollars to pay out the existing contract.

Her attempts to cancel the services and reduce her financial burden, which included visiting the Darwin store, failed.

She also lodged a case with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Ms Cork said despite her client’s best efforts, Optus failed to identify that mis-selling could have occurred.

Instead, she was treated as if she was a customer in financial hardship.

The situation continued to spiral this year as Optus pursued Ms Numina-Waugh for increasing amounts.

The ABC has been provided with transcripts of text messages sent by Optus.

One said:

“Make this payment asap, or you may be referred to a debt collection agency.”

When she was unable to pay, Optus sold her case to a debt collection agency, which sent her texts like this one:

“You are in default of your contract and failure to make prompt payment will result in further collections activity and may affect your credit record.”

Desperate, Ms Numina-Waugh went to the Catholic Care NT’s office.

She wanted to make an early withdrawal of her superannuation to wipe the debt and make the problem go away.

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But Ms Cork stopped that because of the damage it would do to her financial future. She also made sure the debt collector ceased its activities.

Ms Cork asked Optus to refund the more than $1,400 Ms Numina-Waugh managed to pay the company and also requested $10,000 in compensation for the stress it caused.

The telco has waived her debt, removed the black mark on her credit file and allowed her to keep the phones. Optus has been refusing to pay compensation and has only partially refunded her because it said Ms Numina-Waugh had used a phone.

‘Why did it continue?’

The ACCC has accused Optus’ leadership of failing to fix the deficiencies in its systems that were being exploited by sales staff.

Ms Cork said the public deserved answers.

“Why did it still continue?”

“Why didn’t they…do an audit of their contracts and then start contacting clients, contacting advocates and reimbursing and compensating people?”

Optus declined an interview request.

In a statement the company said, “The misconduct alleged by the ACCC is unacceptable and we sincerely apologise”.

“In response we have also taken disciplinary action, including terminating staff, whom we determined were responsible for this misconduct.”

The company declined to answer questions about Ms Numina-Waugh’s case but said it was working on remediation for impacted customers.

It was also appointing a customer advocate to focus on improving customer support.

The consumer watchdog began investigating Optus after a referral from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

“Some of the conduct was particularly egregious, particularly towards consumers experiencing vulnerability,” ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said.

“People, for example, that were on a Centrelink income were sold more than $7,000 worth of phone products and services.”

Last year, the ABC reported on financial counsellors calling for the ACCC to re-investigate and consider prosecuting Telstra again after they uncovered large numbers of alleged mis-selling cases.

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb confirmed last month that Telstra was being examined.

“We’ve been working closely with financial counsellors and engaging in a further investigation,” she said at a press conference.

Telstra has challenged the need for further action, saying it was always clear that more people had been affected, it supported extensive work to uncover new cases and it had made significant changes to ensure widespread mis-selling was not occurring.

Ms Cooper said telcos needed to think carefully about the impact of their actions.

“Mobile phones are essential now to do … essential things like accessing your bank.

“So when [people] have debt collectors chasing them, when they owe money they didn’t expect and that right or ability to own a phone is taken away, it means they are disconnected digitally.”