Beware of festive season scam

With the festive season in full swing and with some people enjoying their bonuses or thirteenth cheques, Standard Bank is advising clients to be wary of fraudsters using all sorts of tricks to gain access to their hard-earned money.

Using the excitement of the festive season, criminals prey on people who withdraw large amounts of money from their banks, those who ask strangers to assist with ATM transactions and those who share confidential information such as usernames, passwords, OTPs (One Time Pins), PINs and card security codes.

Standard Bank therefore advises customers to refrain from carrying large amounts of money and to consider moving from cash-based to electronic channels, such as internet banking, cell phone banking and point of sale devices.

Also, people should avoid requesting strangers for assistance at ATMs as this may result in criminals gaining access to their confidential information such as PINs and One Time Passwords (OTPs), and use that to withdraw money.

The bank also reminds customers of the vishing scam, which is the act of impersonating a bank employee in an attempt to scam victims into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

Identify theft is the act of using someone else’s identity (personal identifying information like their name and identity number) without their permission to gain access to their bank accounts.

Fraudsters pretend to be Standard Bank officials and call customers to manipulate them into sharing their personal information such as OTPs, ATM PIN, credit or debit card number, card expiry date and card verification value (CVV) number.





Scammers ask customers to upgrade (such as activating SMS notifications or increasing loan limits), verify or confirm their personal account information, failing which they made to believe that their accounts would be suspended.

Another fraud that is also prevalent is the phishing scam by which unsuspecting victims are asked to click on email links that look genuine but are fake and which cause customers to divulge sensitive information such as bank account details.

Standard Bank assures its clients and the general public that it will never ask for their OTPs, ATM PIN, credit card or debit card number, card expiry date, or card verification value (CVV) number, over the telephone or via email and people should therefore refrain from entertaining such requests through these mediums to avoid losing their hard-earned money.