Absa fraud warning
Absa expects five types of fraud to be prevalent this year: eCommerce fraud, authorised push payment (APP) fraud, account takeovers, new digital payments, and deepfakes.
This is according to Ulrich Janse van Rensburg, Chief Fraud Strategy & Analytics Officer at Absa Everyday Banking, who told Daily Investor that he expects these scams to be common in 2025.
While fraud and scams have always been commonplace, Janse van Rensburg explained that they have definitely changed over the last few years.
Scams today are increasingly digital, with social engineering becoming a more and more important tool used by fraudsters.
Social engineering entails victims being manipulated into giving out their personal information. Essentially, this means that victims are helping scammers to defraud themselves without realising what is going on.
This is largely due to the increased security measures that have been put in place to protect customers, such as two-factor authentication.
Customers are often required to verify their transactions, which means that scammers are forced to try and get the prospective victim to comply with them in some way.
Janse van Rensburg explained that consumers are at an especially high risk of being victimised today since syndicates have moved away from their usual tactics of defrauding banks and are instead focussing on defrauding customers.
On top of this, consumers are more at risk of violent crimes as well.
“With the different payment landscapes that are surfacing, we are seeing things like violent crime stepping up significantly over the last two years,” he said.
This may force financial institutions to consider the way they respond to “traditional threats” and their need to reinvent how they do things now.
While banks may have previously been able to address these threats themselves, now “ they need the customer or the consumer to be part of that conversation”.
Fortunately, because fraud often requires the customer’s participation, there are also measures they can take to avoid falling victim.
“Make sure that you pay careful attention to what’s happening when you are phoned to transact when you are phoned to approve when someone tells you to move your funds around.”
“Just pause for a second. Think about what’s being asked and reflect on whether that makes sense.”
“Your bank won’t ask you to approve transactions that you have not initiated. Your bank won’t ask you to move funds from your account because your account’s not safe. So just breathe and think about how you participate in those instances.”
If you have any doubts about something that is happening, you can phone your bank’s hotline and explain what is going on, and they will guide you from there.
Janse van Rensburg also advised that if you are interfered with at an ATM, cancel the transaction, make sure that you have your card and walk away.
When shopping online and you find a deal that seems too good to be true, do some research before making that purchase.
“Also consider consulting friends and family and potentially a financial advisor,” Janse van Rensburg said.
Below are the top five broad threats Janse van Rensburg is expecting to see in 2025.
eCommerce fraud

In the first place, Janse van Rensburg highlighted eCommerce fraud as something to look out for this year.
“That is something that we’ve seen step up significantly over the last two years,” he said.
In 2024, Absa saw a clear increase in this type of fraud and attempted fraud compared to 2023 and 2022.
Specifically, there is an increase in the use of social engineering linked to e-commerce fraud.
Janse van Rensburg explained that this is because most banks are moving to 3D secure payments, which adds an extra step to online transactions and requires you to authorise your payments in-app or with a one-time PIN (OTP).
Because fraudsters need the victim to help them commit the crime, they use social engineering to ensure that the person being defrauded agrees to the scheme.
“We’re also still seeing a lot of token-related fraud,” Janse van Rensburg said.
This occurs when your card is enrolled for tokens, such as those used on social media platforms, online marketplaces, or global services like Uber.
These platforms store card details, which makes them vulnerable to fraud.
Authorised push payment fraud

The bank also expects to see authorised push payment fraud in 2025, Janse van Rensburg said.
“This is where someone’s managed to get your login credentials and they authorise and process your payments.”
In other words, the fraudster convinces the payer to authorise a payment under false pretences.
“Over the last 3 years, we’ve seen a tenfold increase in the amount of fraud we’ve prevented that’s linked to authorised push payments fraud.”
This reflects the effectiveness of advanced tools and technologies implemented at the bank, as well as the increasing appetite of fraudsters fuelled by the ongoing wave of digitalisation.
Social engineering will also be increasingly used to commit this type of scam going forward.
Account takeovers

Account takeovers are also expected to be a common threat this year.
“Account takeover is typically something that you see when a synthetic identity has been adopted,” Janse van Rensburg explained.
This involves fraudsters creating slightly altered versions of a victim’s identity to impersonate them and gain access to their accounts, especially where authentication systems are weak.
Account takeovers are expected to rise in informal environments, particularly as South Africa’s Reserve Bank opens the payments landscape to fintech companies.
Part of what makes fintechs so appealing is their ability to innovate quickly and introduce new products to the market.
However, they often operate under less stringent regulations and lack the robust fraud prevention measures seen in traditional financial institutions.
This creates vulnerabilities that fraudsters can exploit, with social engineering attacks likely to target these weaker systems.
New digital payments

Janse van Rensburg also warned of potential risks associated with new digital payment methods, particularly as consumers grow more comfortable with alternatives like real-time clearing platforms (e.g., PayShop) and digital wallets.
While these payment methods are legitimate, they create opportunities for fraud under false pretences. For instance, fraudulent schemes may present themselves as payment methods requiring consumers to provide card details to subscribe.
These details could then be used to conduct unauthorised transactions.
Fraudsters might also introduce fake payment methods that act as an intermediary between a merchant and a bank, harvesting sensitive information while carrying out transactions in the background.
He urged consumers to exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of new payment platforms.
Deepfakes

According to Janse van Rensburg, Absa has seen exponential growth in deepfake activity when comparing Q1 to Q4 of last year.
While banks have advanced tools to detect deepfakes in biometric services, ordinary consumers lack similar defences.
Fraudsters may impersonate individuals through convincing deepfake technology, such as posing as a bank advisor or CEO to deceive victims into transferring funds or approving fraudulent transactions.
For instance, cases have been reported where U.S. banks and even a software company narrowly avoided falling victim to deepfake CEO scams.
“We think that is going to become a lot more prevalent in the industry,” Janse van Rensburg said.
Comments