WITH the festive season around the corner, experts in the banking sector are warning consumers to be on the lookout for fraudsters try to make a quick buck.
This comes after the South African Bank Risk Information Centre released annual crime statistics on banking fraud this week.
The report revealed that the amount of money lost to card fraud increased by 17% from R993.5 million in 2020 to R1.1 billion last year.
Although there was an overall increase in card fraud in 2021, debit cards remained the card type with the highest fraud amount, with R664.4 million lost to scams last year.
The Western Cape came is second after Gauteng with the highest amount of debit card-related fraud.
Credit card fraud also increased by 40.7% to R240.9 million last year.
“The elevated fraud losses during 2021, when compared to 2020, can be attributed to the relaxation of the stringent Covid-19 lockdown restrictions applied to outlets during 2020,” read the report.
Standard Bank revealed that it had recorded 5 328 debit card scams last year, an increase on the 4 793 cases reported in the previous term.
Standard Bank’s head of client experience and risk execution, Eben Klopper, said consumers should always be wary of emails asking them to click on a link to log in to their internet banking profiles to update their details.
“Customers need to know that their bank will never ask them to share their one-time passwords or their digital banking credentials (these being the digital banking user name and password) via a phone call for any reason.
“Always verify that the seller is legitimate when buying goods or services online. If the deal sounds too good to be true, it is a scam,” he said.
Klopper said the available information indicated that 90% of these fraud cases are committed by people not known to the victims, while 10% are relatives of the victims.
The centre said phishing (email) and vishing (phone calls) scams remained the most prevalent methods used to obtain customers’ bank details.
Professor Bruce Watson, Stellenbosch University’s cyber-security expert, said criminals continued to target unsuspecting consumers to get their PIN or OTP numbers to commit fraud.
He said that, while these incidents took place during the year, they were more prevalent during the festive season.
“There are a few reasons for this. Our attention shifts towards the summer months and enjoying ourselves, and to an extent that means we let down our guard.
“We also shift our spending patterns (gifts, holidays, going out more, and so on) in such a way that we are then not surprised to get an email or call from our bank or card company "just to confirm something", and that also induces us to let our guard down,” he said.
Watson urged consumers to guard their phones, as SIM swops and cloning scams were also rife.
“SIM swops and clones are tough to do, because criminals need access to the phone and the SIM card, but many people allow that to happen.
“You go to have the phone repaired or a new screen protector put in and then the guy says "just a moment" and goes into the back with your phone. Now you do not know if they have taken your SIM or cloned it.”
Lizette Lancaster, a crime expert from the Institute for Security Studies, said risk assessments conducted on organised crime syndicates showed that criminals had the means and skills to adapt how they targeted consumers and businesses.
“Research also suggests that groups look at new opportunities and may move from one crime type to another that may be more lucrative and/or lower risk,” she said.