Midrand police sees a spike in bank frauds involving SA’s ‘big banks’

Despite a recent drop, Midrand police saw a surge of fraud cases involving some of South Africa’s popular banks in February this year.

The station spokesperson and social crime prevention coordinator, Sergeant Thabiso Angelina Selowa-Kutu, said that in a day, they would receive five out of 12 reported fraud dockets. She said various banks, including Standard, Absa, and Discovery, and, more recently, Nedbank customers, were victims of these scams.

However, according to Selowa-Kutu, who spoke to the paper on July 11, the trend has since subsided significantly. She said victims would receive calls from unknown numbers informing them about fraudulent transactions.

Also read: Police on high alert after another string of cash-in-transit heists

“And unfortunately, the numbers the fraudsters use are also recognised by the Truecaller app, appearing to be legit and coming from the bank the victim banks with. The caller then impersonates bank officials, informing the client that they are seeing fraudulent transactions and want to help them stop them. They go as far as confirming with the first four or last four ID numbers of the client to make it look legit,” said Selowa-Kutu.She added, to an extent, the fraudsters claim that they will create a new bank account to move the ‘remaining available balance’ to the new account.

“They then send a One-Time Password (OTP) or a QR code scanner to ‘reverse’ the missing money and request that you send it back to them. Shortly afterwards, about four to five consecutive notification messages that the remaining amount has been deducted. It’s not easy to trace where it went,” she said.

Selowa-Kutu urged bank clients to refrain from fixing their bank issues over the phone and instead visit their nearest branches. Asked how they are working with the said banks to trace the origin of the calls, Selowa-Kutu said banks were asking customers to open cases with SAPS and conduct their internal investigations.

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Discovery response

Discovery Bank said they were committed to the safety and security of its clients.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to protect clients from fraud, we regularly issue alerts via our banking app to raise awareness about scams currently circulating. The recent alert (about this particular scam) is part of this proactive approach, ensuring all clients are informed and remain vigilant,” said Discovery Bank.

They added that, as mentioned in the in-app alert they sent out to their clients, fraudsters may impersonate Discovery Bank employees and use number verification apps (like Truecaller) to appear legitimate.

“They do this to create a false sense of trust and trick clients into sharing personal information. We urge clients to please remember: Discovery Bank will never call to ask for sensitive details like your card number, OTP, username or password. Do not rely on caller ID apps to verify callers. Always use the Discovery Bank app or bank website for contact details.”

Nedbank response

Nedbank’s media department asked the paper to engage with SAPS, as they are best positioned to comment on their statistics.

”Nedbank can, however, confirm that vishing and client coaching (both of which involve the fraudster calling a client pretending to be the bank) are methods used by fraudsters to get clients to either divulge their secret information or to trick clients into making payments to accounts controlled by the fraudsters.”

Also read: Sector 3 Crime Forum issues safety tips for residents following spike of phone snatching

Tips to keep safe:

• Never share your online banking login details, card PIN, expiry date, and card security code (CSC) with anyone.
• Your bank will never ask you to move your money to another account.
• Read your banking notification messages carefully before accepting them, and never share a One-Time Password (OTP) with anyone.
• Don’t be rushed into processing a transaction or sharing your personal information – check with your bank first.
• Report fraud to your bank immediately.

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