R2.4 billion gone. The bank was never hacked.
Last year South Africans lost R2.4 billion to digital banking fraud, across more than 110 000 cases. Here is the part that should worry you: not one of those rand was stolen by breaking into a bank. The banks held. The customer was the way in.
How it works
- The call that sounds real. Someone posing as a police officer or the bank’s fraud team phones about “fraud on your account”. Stay calm, they say. Just install this app. Just log in here.
- Most of it goes through your phone. About six in ten cases are banking-app fraud: the app is opened by the owner, and the money is handed over one step at a time.
- They already know you. They don’t guess. They have read your social media, so the story fits, the name is right and the urgency feels true.
The one rule they rely on you breaking
They rely on you acting fast. So slow down. Hang up and call your bank yourself, on the number on the back of your card.
- A real bank never asks you to install an app because someone phoned you.
- A real bank never asks you to move money to “keep it safe”.
- A real bank never needs your PIN or your one-time code over the phone.
That’s what Reed Sentinel does. We show your team what these calls sound like and what to do instead. The call is always free.
Talk to Reed Sentinel →Starting soon: a short email with the scam doing the rounds in South Africa that month, and how to spot it. No sales pitch.
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