Concern over rise in banking fraud via SIM swaps

It says according to Susan Potgieter, GM at the commercial crime office of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), there were fewer than 100 incidents in 2011, but that has grown to more than 1 000 in 2012 - a 900% increase. 'From the banking industry's perspective we are worried because we know that these SIM swaps are for the purpose of fraud,' Potgieter is quoted in the report as saying. It notes Adrian Vermooten, head of digital banking at Absa, said more than 90% of these fraud cases involved the customer inadvertently giving his or her login details for online banking away - most probably through a phishing email. This means only a few cases would be as a result of login details being stolen by the fraudster using spyware or keyloggers. A report on the Fin24.com site states that technical adviser and owner of Swift Consulting Liron Segev said SIM swapping is not new, but what is novel and worrying is that SIM swapping is being done primarily to get people's banking details and prevent them from receiving notifications that a transaction has occurred. Full Moneyweb report Full report on the Fin24.com site

A suspected kingpin in the recent spate of SIM swap fraud cases has been arrested, according to an ITWeb report. It says collaboration between mobile operator MTN and the South African Police Services led to the arrest of the key suspect. According to MTN, the company's forensic services team worked closely with the Wierdabrug police in Centurion to track down and arrest an individual MTN says is 'linked to the fraudulent SIM swaps of MTN customers and perpetrating further scams nationwide'., the report notes. Full ITWeb report See also a Moneyweb report

A report on the Fin24.com site notes that a former Absa Group employee who is well aware of the dangers of phishing and not protecting passwords is not giving up her search for answers, after R346 900 disappeared from her account. She is one of the Internet fraud victims who told their stories after Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman related how she had become a victim of a SIM-swap syndicate. As reported in Legalbrief Forensic last week, R1.5m was transferred from her home loan to her cheque account. Before Absa could freeze her account, smaller amounts totalling R360 000 were transferred to an account in the name of 'Badiba Madiba'. Another report on the Fin24.com site says users of the site have expressed rage and frustration after being scammed out of hundreds of thousands of rands from Absa, Nedbank and Standard Bank in cases often involving SIM swaps with Vodacom and MTN. The site notes it has been bombarded with emails telling tales of SIM swap fraud, with clients losing out on their salaries and savings. First report on the Fin24.com Second report on the Fin24.com site

Staying with cellphones and banking fraud: With the advancement in technology where payments can be made to cellphone numbers and withdrawn via an ATM, fraudsters now have the option to transfer money not into accounts, but simply withdraw the funds scammed from you using a telephone number, according to a Moneyweb report. It notes banks now offer payment options where an account holder can transfer funds to another person by simply using his or her cellphone number. The report records a complaint in which money, paid as a deposit for an item advertised, disappeared without any hope of identifying the payee as an eWallet was used. The complainant argued that the new technology makes it easier for scammers to disappear with your money, because they cannot be as easily identified as someone with a bank account into which the money was transferred, notes the report. Full Moneyweb report