Here are the main banks in South Africa’s policy on getting updates from users. Info comes from the respective sites directly.
ABSA
NB! We will never send you a letter or e-mail requesting you to complete your personal details by clicking on a webpage link in an e-mail other than our home address www.absa.co.za
Nedbank
SMS Authorisation
The Bank will never contact you and request you to supply the reference number sent via SMS. Should you receive a call requesting this information do not supply this information but immediately call the Nedbank Contact Centre on 0860 115 060.
Beneficiary Maintenance – Scam Warning
This scam involves perpetrators contacting clients and requesting the cliient to amend their beneficiary details.
Perpetrators create a false document, using a legitimate company’s details and then request the client to update their beneficiary details on internet banking. The documents presented include letterheads, fax headers, invoices and statements which compare well to the company’s legitimate documents and appear genuine.
The client subsequently pays money into the fraudulently opened accounts. The frauds are generally discovered a few months later when the creditor queries non-payment of accounts. By this time, the funds have been withdrawn from the fraudulent account and there is no possibility of a recovery.
The information required to perpetrate these frauds are usually obtained from intercepted post, rubbish bins, websites and so on.
Recommendation:
Clients should, where possible, make use of the ‘bank approved beneficiary’ option when loading beneficiaries for large corporate entities.
Preventative Measures
* If you receive a request of this nature, please confirm it with the company or entity.
* Refrain from using the contact details quoted on such requests and instead use the contact information already stored in your records.
FNB – First National Bank
Remember, FNB would never ask for sensitive information via email
This is a form of fraud where criminals attempt to access your confidential information. This is done either by an email request for information or by luring you to a fake website.
In both instances, the fraudster would pretend to be from a legitimate company (for example the bank), and would ask you to disclose confidential financial and personal information – like passwords, credit card account numbers and ID numbers.
Golden Rules
- Never access the site via a link. Rather type the address into the browser address bar or save the address as a ‘Favourite’.
- If you suspect that your confidential information has been compromised, please do not hesitate to contact our dedicated Fraud Team on 011 632 2226 for assistance, or email risk.online@fnb.co.za
Never reply to email that:
- Requires you to enter personal information directly into the email or submit that information some other way.
- Threatens to close or suspend your account if you do not take immediate action by providing personal information.
- Solicits your participation in a survey where you are asked to enter personal information.
- States that your account has been compromised or that there has been third-party activity on your account, and requests you to enter or confirm your account information.
- Asks you to enter your User ID, password or account numbers into an email or non-secure web page.
- Asks you to confirm, verify, or refresh your account, credit card, or address information.
The most important thing to remember is not to interact with the sender of the email, and definitely do not enter any of your personal or account details.
Remember, FNB would never ask for sensitive information via email.