Cape Town - The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) recorded 42 cash-in-transit heists, 87 associated robberies and two bank robberies over November and December.
Sabric chief executive Kalyani Pillay said it's “very distressing that bank clients who are the victims of stokvel and associated robberies are often injured or even killed during these incidents, which is why we urge them to find safer ways to transact, such as internet transfers or mobile banking, instead of carrying large amounts of cash.”
With regards to cash-in-transit heists, Eastern Cape led the pack with 14 incidents, followed by Gauteng with 12. Western Cape, Northern Cape and Free State recorded one case each.
Gauteng led in associated robberies with 56 cases, followed by Western Cape with seven cases, and the Northern Cape and Free State recording no incidents. KwaZulu-Natal and North West province each had one bank robbery case.
“These crimes are seen as one of the fastest-growing forms of aggravated robberies in South Africa, which pose a significant threat to public safety and economy.”
Pillay said people must carry as little cash as possible. “They must consider the convenience of paying their accounts electronically and consult their bank to find out about other available options,” Pillay said.
Last year, Sabric launched its festive season awareness campaign to warn the public of the modus operandi of criminals during festive periods.
They also gave tips to prevent festive scams and said people must not fall for offers that were available at a very cheap price. Staff dealing with finance in organisations should be educated about about scams. Some of the other tips included people varying the days and times on which they deposited cash and refraining from making cash deposits of club member contributions on high-risk days such as on the Monday after a month-end.
Police Minister Bheki Cele also held a briefing last year, before the start of the festive season, where he said the Crime Intelligence Unit would continue to combat CIT robberies, “stopping robbers in their tracks” by arresting them before the could commit a heist.
Cele said since the national commissioner and himself pronounced on the National Stabilisation Interventions to curb serious crimes, particularly CIT robberies, they had seen less of those crimes taking place, although they were not yet out of the woods.
He said he could see in the reports that they had made significant inroads in breaking the back of the syndicates involved in CIT robberies and he was satisfied with the progress made.