Woman left penniless after online banking fraud

A Glenwood woman is devastated after discovering she has been the victim of online banking fraud

Barbara Koorbanally said she would not have even realised she was a victim if it hadn’t been for her niece insisting she check her ATM statement.

“It is my fault. It started in July and I wondered why I couldn’t make my monthly payments. I stressed a little and was just wondering why I didn’t have enough money to pay all my bills and debit orders. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that someone was using my account and purchasing from it.”

Koorbanally went to the ATM on 24 August a day after after being paid to draw a statement. “I was shocked to see a list of purchases on my account which didn’t make sense. I’m glad it was consecutive because it drew my attention or I wouldn’t have picked it up,” she said.

The purchases, all of which were made online off her cheque account were for R99.99 whilst others were over R100, and there was even one for R1000 yet Koorbanally did not receive an SMS from her bank alerting her to the funds leaving her account.

After reporting the incident to her bank she was advised to go into her branch. “The manager said I had to close the account and open a new one as they had received about a dozen simliar complaints. Still confused, Koorbanally went into the bank on Tuesday, 3 September to sort out the matter only to discover a further two fraudulent purchases had been made using her account.

Koorbanally said she didn’t believe in cellphone or online banking and had never used these facilities, so was thoroughly confused at how she had become a victim of online banking fraud.

Her niece advised her to withdraw all her funds from the account last week but she was afraid because her debit orders would not be covered. “They eventually took most of the money so it really is a lose-lose situation. I haven’t even paid my flat levy which is over R800 or insurance, and have less than R500 left in my account after these “purchases” which are in excess of R4000. Last month all my payments ended up being returned because I had insufficient funds and I incurred late payment penalties,” she added.

“It is an eye opener for others and I strongly urge people to check their ATM statements as often as possible and not just on a monthly basis. I am going back to the bank after going through my statements and hope they can help me because I will not be able to sustain myself this month,” she said.