Fraud continues to pose the risk of serious financial losses for banking customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Reana Steyn, the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS)<\/strong>, new scams are increasing the number of victims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the basic modus operandi of these scams is not new, there is a constant change in the techniques that fraudsters apply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr M advised that he received emails supposedly from the South African Post Office informing him that unclaimed packages were waiting for him at the head post office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He advised the representative in the email that he did, in fact, have a package at the post office that had not yet been collected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He then received an SMS from the post office advising him to pay a fee of R42,50 for the package to be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr M followed the instructions on the link he received, and the link opened to a payment option on an official post office payment page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He inserted his card details and received an \u201cApprove It\u201d message on his cellphone. He approved the transaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Immediately thereafter, he received another \u201cApprove It\u201d message from his bank. When he noticed the word \u201cSingapore\u201d, he realised that he was being defrauded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He immediately reported the fraud to his bank and instructed the bank not to release the pending transaction of R16 061,80. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, since the transaction had been authorised with the use of the card details and the \u201cApprove It\u201d message, the bank had already released the transaction and refused any liability for the loss that was suffered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The OBS determined that Mr M made the payment himself and approved the transaction through his banking app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The OBS further found that although Mr M thought he was making a payment of R42,50, the message he received from the bank for the authentication of the payment read: \u201cYou are about to make an online purchase of CHF 1 000.00 at BIGO Live\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since it was clear from the message that the payment was not to the post office and that the purchase amount was not R42,50, the OBS found against Mr M and concluded that he was unfortunately a victim of a phishing scam where he willingly compromised his confidential banking details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Steyn, fraud claims and losses for OBS complaints exceeded R295 million in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steyn warned that banking fraud has become a very lucrative business for online scammers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The banking fraud matters investigated by her office in 2021 alone exceeded R295 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She confirmed that in most of these matters, the amounts claimed were not recovered as they had already been withdrawn by the fraudsters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Steyn said these scams are avoidable and called on bank customers to be extra vigilant in 2022 to ensure that they do not suffer financial losses over a scam that could have been avoided. She urged people never to provide confidential banking details to a stranger over the phone or enter these details on a link received via email or SMS. She also warned customers to never accept assistance from a stranger at an ATM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Steyn, the power to prevent scams lies mostly with consumers. The responsibility is on them to always remain vigilant and suspicious, especially when requested to provide their confidential banking details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although banks have created various fraud detection systems to monitor and detect unusual transactions and prevent it where possible, these measures do not guarantee that all fraudulent transactions can or will be detected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Steyn advised that such losses are not for the banks to absorb through their insurance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Steyn, some customers believe that banks are insured for the losses suffered by clients through banking scams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is incorrect. The only time the bank will be held liable by the OBS is when the losses suffered by the customer were because of the bank\u2019s negligence or wrongdoing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Steyn, vigilance can prevent customers from falling prey to schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraud continues to pose the risk of serious financial losses for banking 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of the recent matters investigated by the OBS was that of a post office scam.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Fraud claims and losses<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Fraud detection and insurance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Preventing fraud<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n