HESSEQUA NEWS - Several people in the Hessequa region have been victims of online fraud.
Absa warns customers against handing ‘keys to the safe’ over to third parties. Absa has urged customers to always be vigilant against any attempt to dupe them into handing over their ‘keys to the safe’ - card PIN, card CVV, card One Time PIN (OTP), online banking PIN, online banking password – to third parties.
There is an upsurge in social engineering globally. Fraudsters use personal data from data breaches to impersonate banks with the sole purpose of tricking customers into granting them access to their money and bank accounts.
Studies show that during the first half of 2018, 4,5 billion customer data records globally were reported to have been compromised - 86% of all consumer information has been compromised through spam e-mails and data breaches. Studies have also shown that 97% of customers struggle to differentiate between a Phishing e-mail and a legitimate e-mail.
Data breaches fuel Phishing (impersonation through e-mails, commonly containing hyperlinks), Vishing (impersonation through phone calls) or SMShing (impersonation through text messages where the customer is requested to open the link and complete the fields).
In South Africa, digital banking fraud cases increased by 64% over the past year; these impact the entire financial services industry.
Warning customers, Absa’s Head of Fraud Strategy, Ulrich Janse Van Rensburg, said customers should never approve transaction requests via the Mobile Banking application (App) if they’re not transacting or if they are not responsible for the transaction.
Van Rensburg said they have set-up world-class systems to protect their customers and urged customers to adopt the Absa Mobile Banking Application (App).
“It gives our customers total control over their portfolios. They can deactivate services like online card purchases, ATM cash withdrawals, report fraud, manage beneficiaries and approve/decline transactions. Our App also helps prevent SIM Swap Fraud,” said Van Rensburg.
Importantly, explained Van Rensburg, Absa does not impose amount limits on debit order notifications, which means that our customers can keep track of all their debit orders, regardless of value, using the NotifyMe service.
Customers are strongly advised to always be vigilant by reading their SMS notifications and verifications thoroughly.
Absa will never request for its customers’ ‘keys to the safe’ for any reason whatsoever. Absa encourages its customers to report any suspicious activity to Absa Fraud Hotline (0860 557 557 or +2711 501 5089) via the mobile banking application ‘click to call’ functionality.
Additional safety tips
- Turn off your Wi-Fi when banking on a public network – it is unsafe.
- Check that your browser link starts with https.
- Absa will never send you an e-mail with a link or attachment that will redirect you to what looks like a Login page.
- Type in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for Absa i.e. www.absa.co.za in your internet browser if you need to access Absa’s webpage.
- Always check that you are on the legitimate Absa site before entering any personal, confidential or sensitive information by checking that it begins with https.
- If you think that your banking profile might have been compromised, contact us immediately on 0860 557 557.
- Create complicated passwords that are not easy to decipher and change them often.
- Absa does call customers from time-to-time. However, always ensure that you are indeed speaking to us and not a fraudster. If you receive a call purportedly from Absa trying to assist you in preventing a ‘crisis’, requesting your ‘keys to the safe’, it should immediately raise suspicion.
Put down the phone and immediately report this to the bank on 0860 557 557.
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