BEWARE, Mzansi! Don’t give anyone else the “keys” to your money. Don’t give them your card PINs, the card number, date and CVV number. Don’t give them your One Time PINs, passwords, online banking details or anything else.
As new security technology forces fraudsters to upgrade, they have to rely on old scams and tricks in the meantime.
From January to June last year, fraudsters used stolen personal data to impersonate banks and abused people’s trust to grant them access to their bank accounts.
Worldwide, the records of about 4,5 billion customer were compromised – that’s 86% of all consumer information – by email scams and data breaches.
Phishing
Phishing is when scammers send millions of emails to people that pretend to be from banks and other trusted institutions. If a person opens the email, they might think it is for them, click on the provided link which opens fake page.
Victims are asked to logon the page as they would do to use online banking. But then nothing happens except the fraudsters can use your information to take all your money. SMShing is a phishing scam that uses SMSes.
Vishing
Another version of phishing is vishing, which relies on scammers phoning you with an urgent problem about your account – usually warning you that someone is trying to get into it. They play on your panic and fear to get the details they need to access your cash.
Protect yourself
In Mzansi, digital banking fraud cases increased by 64% over the past year. Absa’s head of fraud strategy, Ulrich van Rensburg, said people should never approve transaction requests received by mobile banking apps if they’re not transacting or responsible for the transaction.
Van Rensburg said they have set up world-class systems to protect their customers. They urge clients to use the Absa Mobile Banking App.
“It gives our customers total control over their portfolios. They can change, manage and de-activate their services.”
