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 or online banking password – to third parties.
The bank explains that there has been 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 emails and data breaches.
Other studies reveal that 97% of customers struggle to differentiate between a phishing email and a legitimate email.
Data breaches fuel an increase in phishing (impersonation through emails, 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, says customers should never approve transaction requests via the mobile banking app if they’re not transacting or if they are not responsible for the transaction.
Van Rensburg adds that Absa includes world-class protection in its mobile banking app. “It gives our customers total control over their portfolios,” he says. “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 swop fraud.”