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Is your money safe at Absa?

In the heydays people believed it was safer to keep your money in a box under your bed than to put it in a bank.

July 3, 2018

Gerhard Rheeder 2 minutes read

The question about how safe your money at the bank really is, has once again come under the spotlight after R10 000 of a R15 000 loan from African Bank, has inexplicably been withdrawn from a client’s account at Absa.

In the three months since the theft has been reported with the police, neither Mr Ruben Kitching nor his fiance Chane Clegg, are any the wiser about who made transfers from their account to various fake accounts.

Watch: Protesters shut down banks in OR Tambo Street

According to Mr Kitching, Absa could not provide him with any details of the account holders because the accounts were not FICA’ed.

Mr Kitching has never activated the internet or cellphone banking options on his account.

He accused Absa of dragging their feet with the investigation whilst he is being forced to repay the loan, whilst not being able to pay his house deposit to his landlord, the reason for the loan in the first place.

Also read: Another scam at Absa?

Absa is refusing to repay the stolen money.

Mr Kitching said that all Absa has provided him with, was the initials and surnames of the beneficiaries in the transactions. Payments were made to a Mr S. Plaatjie and someone named Koloi.

Eight payments, consisting of amounts ranging from R1 000 to R2 000 at a time, were made to the fake accounts.

Also read: Complaints against Absa on the rise

“All Absa did was give me a new card and pin number. My account stays the same. It is ironic because everything happened over the the internet and not with my card,” said Mr Kitching.

• Absa’s security centre said that the bank’s own investigators would have been in contact with Mr Kitching about the investigation if the incident was reported by Absa in the Middelburg Mall.

Mr Kitching says that he has only been contacted once over the past three months.

• Absa Middelburg Mall did not want to comment.

• Absa’s head office said that Mr Kitching was the victim of a Phishing scam. They did not want to comment on how thieves got hold of his details but said that they cannot be held responsible for a client’s negligence.

Read: Black magic muti makes R20 000 ‘disappear’

The bank also did not want to comment on how the fake accounts were created.

• Recent reports in the national media about ongoing fraud at Absa, caused a heavy backlash from the public. One reader wanted to know “Why it always happens at Absa” whilst another commented that “it sounds like something that is happening inside the bank.”