A woman was defrauded of at least R3 690 after she followed telephonic instructions pertaining to an SMS.
On August 12 a woman received a call from a person posing as a banking official.
She was told that that an amount of R600 had been debited from her account and to reverse the debit she had to punch the following number into her phone *120*3279#.
The woman followed the instructions and her cellular phone went off, by 18:00 her phone switched back on and she received an SMS informing her that an amount of R3 690 had been removed from her account.
She reported the matter to the police and took the matter up with her respective bank.
“Phishing and fraud scams are methods of deceitfully obtaining personal information such as passwords, identity numbers and credit card details by calling, sending emails or cell phone messages that look like they come from trusted sources, such as banks or legitimate companies,” said Capt Eddie Hall, Witbank Police communications liaison.
He added that typically, these emails or cell phone messages request that users click on a link in the email, which will direct users to a spoofed website – a site designed to fool users into thinking that it is legitimate to obtain, verify or update contact details or other sensitive financial information.
These emails and messages also contain a telephone number and contact person whom you should call, as you are promised you could win large sums of money.
“Never respond to emails or cell phone messages appearing to be from your bank, which request your personal details. Remember that no bank will ever ask you to confirm or update your account details by email,” said Capt Hall.
Witbank Police also advised the community to never provide your online ID, password or PIN to anyone and never write them down or share them. He also advised the community to never save their internet banking passwords on their desktop or laptop, they also advised them to always log off or sign off at the end of a session.
“Additionally never send money or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust,” said Capt Hall.
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