The banking sector saw increased criminal incidents amid the Covid-19 pandemic in conjunction with the implementation of regulations of the Disaster Management Act, which has impacted financial crime trends.
According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) annual crime stats for 2020, these triggered changes in human behaviour, human movement, and policing thereby creating new opportunities for criminals which significantly impacted the number of criminal incidents. While some crime types decreased, others increased as criminals exploited Covid-19 for their own gain.
The data compiled on behalf of the banking industry showed that digital banking fraud increased by 33 percent, while debit card fraud rose by 22 percent, while on a positive note, credit card fraud decreased by 7 percent.
Sabric chief executive Nischal Mewalall said that as customers turned to online shopping and settling payments on their app, criminals enhanced their efforts to phish customers to steal their personal data to defraud them on digital and online platforms.
“Your personal data, when combined with technology, has become the new key to the safe that holds your money in a bank, so you must safeguard your data to prevent criminals getting access to your safe,” said Mewalall.
He further warned that looking ahead, cybercrime and data breaches would represent a significant threat to customers and banks, because even the best security and technology could be compromised when criminals source and use legitimate data illegally, to carry out a crime.
Mewalall also warned bank customers to never click on links in unsolicited emails as these links are used in phishing emails to drive people to “spoofed” websites which look like legitimate online retailers, complete with enticing images and convincing taglines.
“Criminals use these bogus websites to harvest bank card details to make online purchases using your account. We are still seeing lots of scams advertising seemingly incredible deals for personal protective equipment, sanitiser and fake vaccines that exploit people’s concern for their health and safety,” said Mewalall.
In June this year, research from TransUnion found that as more consumers go online for banking and other financial transactions, fraudsters were ramping up their efforts in the financial services industry. Comparing the last four months of last year (September 1 to December 31) and the first four months of this year (January 1 to May 1), the company found the percentage of suspected digital fraud attempts coming from South Africa in financial services increased by 187 percent. Globally, the rate of financial services fraud attempts increased 149 percent.
Across industries, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts globally rose 24 percent when comparing the first four months of 2021 with the last four months of 2020. In South Africa, the overall percentage of fraud attempts increased by 7 percent during the same time period.
Sabric said contact crime was impacted by the restriction of movement and visible policing, resulting in a decrease in incidents. Associated robberies saw a decrease of 24 percent last year when compared to 2019. The decreases were evident in the Free State, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.
While ATM attacks decreased by 9 percent overall, ATM explosive incidents increased by 20 percent.
Cash-in-transit (CIT) robberies decreased significantly due to the level 5 lockdown in April and May last year, but once restrictions were lifted, these increased again by 22 percent as criminals were able to move with fewer restrictions and fear of roadblocks and searches.
Robberies and burglaries also increased by 42 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
Sabric is an NPF company formed by South African banks to support the banking industry in the combating of crime. Sabric’s clients are South African banks and major CIT companies. Its principal business is to detect, prevent and reduce organised crime in the banking industry through effective public private partnerships.
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