As the festive season begins and we prepare to relax and enjoy some well-earned downtime, criminals are getting ready to trick us into giving them money.
“It is important that South Africans remain vigilant to the existence of these fraudsters, whose mission is to defraud anyone they come in contact with. Often, large sums of money — sometimes a person’s whole life savings — are wiped out in the process,” says ombudsman for banking services Reana Steyn.
She advises:
- Many scams work by making the victim think they are helping someone in need, though they are actually money mules — someone with a bank account who agrees to allow someone else to use their account. The mule’s account is used to move money through, making it harder to find. It is important to remember that account holders are responsible for what happens with their accounts, even criminal activity they were unaware of;
- Before agreeing to receive money into your account for someone else, contact your bank to make sure everything is above board;
- Money mules open themselves up to potential criminal liability that is punishable by law and can affect their credit rating;
- Make sure you keep your eyes open for other scams, including phishing, where criminals trick you into logging into a fake online banking profile; vishing, where they use phone calls or voice messages to trick you into providing details of your bank account; and change of banking details scams via email;
- Most scams are sophisticated and highly lucrative for criminals, so they are unlikely to stop trying to trick people. The best defence is vigilance.
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