JOHANNESBURG - Capitec warned on Wednesday that it was aware of a new tactic used by fraudsters to target South African banking clients, particularly the elderly.
"Fraudsters will call you claiming to be from your bank's fraud department, warning that there was either an attempt to commit fraud on your account or that a stop order was loaded. In order for them to block this activity consumers are told to approve the confirmation messages sent to their banking app using their PIN.
"The fraudsters then lead the panicking consumer through the process of performing a transaction on the app, unknowingly transferring funds to the fraudster," it said.
The bank said banks would never call a customer requesting personal details, PIN, or asking a customer to approve transactions.
"The best way to handle calls like these is to state that you will rather go to the nearest branch to solve the issue. If you suspect you have fallen victim to this scam contact your bank immediately to report the incident. Capitec clients can call our call centre on 0860 102 043,"it said.
In June the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), on behalf of the banking industry, released its annual crime statistics for 2019, which showed that credit and debit card fraud had increased by 20.5 percent due to online transactions between 2018 and 2019. - Staff Reporter
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