Criminals are becoming more sophisticated each day as international syndicates team up with local criminals to obtain personal information from unsuspecting people and use this to access your bank accounts and even access credit in your name.
As consumers we need to stay vigilant and protect our information. These are some of the latest scams that banks are warning customers about.
Cellphone banking fraud
According to Absa, the latest scam devised by fraudsters entails phoning customers to advise them that they have won extra airtime from a cellphone operator. The customers are then asked to supply the last dialled number on their phone to authenticate their identity. This number is then used to do an illegal SIM swap with the operator. Fraudsters are thus able to receive all of the customer’s calls and SMSs. Customers’ cellphones will stop functioning a few minutes after receiving the phone call, following the illegal SIM swap. You need to contact your cellphone operator immediately if a cellphone ceases to work to ascertain whether an illegal SIM swap has been performed. It is also important to phone your bank to ensure that any cellphone-related security measures on their accounts are not compromised.
Internet banking
Phising is when the criminal sends an email to you claiming to be your bank. The heading usually says things like ‘Urgent: bank account suspended” to make you panic and react. They usually ask you to provide them with your banking details and passwords in order to update their database. The message from the banks is that they would never request personal information by email and never, ever require you to divulge your secret PIN.
Banks have also introduced protection measures that notify you when your internet account is accessed and require further one-off passwords when making changes to your account. It is important to make sure you are registered for these services. You should also change your password often and don’t use obvious passwords such as your date of birth or spouse’s name. All the banks warn against using public computers such as internet cafes to do internet banking. Make sure that your home computer has sufficient security such as anti-spyware and anti-virus software installed. Criminals have ways of downloading spyware onto your computer that can capture personal data. For this reason never open an attachment from someone you don’t know. Absa says it is important to read the security information published on your bank’s website regularly.
Refund scams
Absa has also warned about another fraud on the increase called a refund scam. This scam sees fraudsters deposit worthless cheques into the accounts of selected victims, who then receive a fax letter claiming to be from a large corporation. The letter is written on what appears to be an official letterhead and states that a deposit has mistakenly been paid into the respective customer’s account. The letter then requests an immediate refund and provides a bank account number, purportedly in the name of the corporation, into which the cash must be transferred. Pressure is then placed on the victim to immediately attend to the transfer of the funds that were ‘mistakenly deposited” into his/her account. Refunds are requested to be made electronically by transferring from the victim’s account to the perpetrator’s account — usually via internet banking. When checking the targeted bank account, it is confirmed that a deposit has indeed been made. The customer often assumes that a genuine mistake has been made and refunds the deposit. Only later, when the deposited cheque fails to clear and the ‘refund” has been made, is it obvious that fraud has been committed.
Absa says that customers should wait for all cheque deposits to first be cleared before making any payment against such a deposit, especially if the person who requested such a refund is not known to you. Verify the source of the deposit with your bank. Often victims are advised that the deposit to their account was cash when, in fact, it was a cheque deposit.
Cheque fraud
Cheque fraud is the most common way for criminals to access your funds. When writing out a cheque do it in such a way that it is difficult to alter. For example, don’t leave large spaces between words and draw a line through any unused space to ensure that nothing can be added to the cheque. Write the amount of the cheque in the space immediately after ‘The sum of” and write the amount in figures as close to the ‘R” as possible. Do not make any corrections to the cheque, it is best to cancel it and write out another one.
Also protect your chequebook by keeping it and your statements in a secure place. Absa warns to never sign a blank cheque and to report a lost or stolen cheque immediately. Also check your statements every month and do a reconciliation. It is best to collect your chequebook yourself from the bank.
What many people may not know is that cheques where the words ‘Or Bearer” are not crossed out are as good as cash and can be cashed by anyone who presents it even if it was made out to a person or company. Two lines with the words ‘not negotiable”or ‘not transferable” written between them means the cheque cannot be cashed but has to be deposited into a bank account. Absa also warns not to send cheques by post unless it is a registered letter.