Nedbank fraud warning for South African banking customers

Nedbank has noticed a steady increase in fraud attempts over the last five years and has urged customers to pay attention to all the fraud advice their banks provide.

Nedbank told Daily Investor that while it maintains state-of-the-art fraud detection systems, such systems can never replace thorough consumer fraud awareness. 

“Nedbank considers client awareness to be a key element in the fight against crime,” the bank said. 

“Whenever new attack vectors are observed, we ensure that awareness is rolled out to our customer base as quickly as possible.”

The bank said there has been a steady increase in fraud attempts over the last five years, backed by annual fraud statistics published by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC).

SABRIC aggregates and reports all the fraud reported by the South African banking community for a holistic picture of the banking fraud landscape.

In October last year, Sabric published its Annual Crime Stats 2022, revealing that the year saw a spike in reported incidents of digital banking fraud, with a 24% increase compared to the previous year.

The report revealed that cybercriminals stole over R740 million from unsuspecting users through digital banking fraud in 2022.

The organisation explains this was largely due to the growing number of fraud cases related to banking applications and Internet banking.

Nedbank’s warning follows a string of other local banks cautioning their clients to remain alert and look out for fraudsters attempting to take their money.

In particular, several banks have noticed an uptick in a type of fraud called “phishing”, including its variants, “vishing” and “smishing”.

FNB explained that phishing is a type of cybercrime in which people are duped into providing sensitive information such as login credentials, passwords, PINs, card details, OTPs, or ID numbers by using deceptive techniques such as fake emails and websites.

Standard Bank and Capitec have also warned about vishing, a type of phishing attack that uses voice communication, such as phone calls or voice messages, to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information. 

Similarly, smishing is a type of cybercrime in which fraudsters send out text messages accompanied by links requesting sensitive information such as login credentials, passwords, PINs, card details, CVV, and OTPs.

FNB Corporate Affairs Executive Jacqui O’Sullivan told Daily Investor that the bank has proactively increased the warnings sent to its customers about the dominant fraud scams currently targeting customers. 

She said that, globally, there has also been an increase in Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud. 

APP fraud is when a criminal convinces a payer to authorise a payment under false pretences. Common examples are from incidents that have occurred because of ‘phishing’ or ‘smishing’. 

O’Sullivan said common scam examples currently seen in South Africa include messages claiming to be from a bank, asking for the user to update their personal information “for FICA”, or messages claiming to be from courier companies,  asking for small online payments of “tax” to ensure the “parcel” is delivered. 

“Fraudsters and scammers use this tactic to try to capture sensitive personal information,” O’Sullivan warned.

She advised FNB customers to take several steps to protect themselves against financial fraud and scams –

• Keep abreast of the latest fraud trends and tactics used by criminals through media and your banking partner’s communications.
• Use strong, unique passwords that would be difficult for criminals to decipher.
• Always use two-factor authentication when purchasing online or on e-commerce platforms.
• Be cautious of Phishing and Vishing – never share confidential information or respond to unsolicited requests for personal information. 
• Do not ever provide OTPs to any caller. Like an ATM pin, these pins should never be shared and should be kept entirely confidential.
• Exercise caution on any request for a change of banking details, as that must be verified by contacting the requestor using contact details sourced from sound historical records.
• Never release payment of goods or services before checking your bank account.
• Never release payment of goods based on a copy of a deposit slip or copy of an EFT Advice provided – rather, contact your bank to validate the deposit.

Importantly, Nedbank said clients can best protect themselves from digital banking fraud by paying attention to all the fraud advice that their banks provide them with. 

“The vast majority of fraud that we see was entirely preventable if the customers had heeded the advice published by the banking community,” the bank said.