Police on Saturday afternoon confirmed they had charged a man for the ABSA Bank computer e-mail breach with 10 counts of fraud and theft.
Addressing the media, Western Cape provincial head of detective services, Andre Du Toit, said from May 12 to July 18, there had been 10 complaints of illegal transactions from savings, personal and other accounts.
The complaints came from places Durbanville, Montagu, Stellenbosch and Paarl.
The value of the fraud and theft was estimated to be R500 000 and withdrawals ranged from R2 000 to R320 000.
”We followed up various leads and achieved a breakthrough in the investigation when we arrested a 35-year-old divorced white male at Ridgewest in Bellville on Thursday,” he said.
The man is expected to appear in the Bellville Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
”We are also investigating the suspect’s connection with other individuals and will be finalising this investigation in the next seven days,” he said.
Du Toit said the police cyber unit and forensic experts from ABSA Bank and Price Waterhouse Coopers would help crack the case.
”We want to warn users to be wary in opening foreign emails not expected, especially those with attachments. Personal computers must also be protected (with the relevant software),” Du Toit said.
He did not want to disclose how police tracked the suspects, saying it might alert other hackers.
Du Toit said some of the money had been recovered. He described the suspect as having a computer background and being knowledgeable about computers.
He confirmed that when the suspect was arrested police found five laptops in his possession, in addition to a number of documents which were being analysed by the police. ‒ Sapa