SOUTH AFRICA - ELDERLY TARGETED BY FRAUDSTERS INTO WITHDRAWING THEIR SAVINGS IN EXCHANGE FOR JOBS

This week was the International Fraud Awareness Week and the South African South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) shared some of the tricks used by fraudsters.

Elderly people are being targeted by criminals who con them into withdrawing their savings in exchange for jobs, according to Sabric.

A criminal approaches a person and tells them his boss wants to recruit pensioners as drivers and asks if they have a driver’s licence and a bank account.

Then the criminal tells the potential victim his boss needs to check their bank balance as he cannot employ them if they have money in their account. The elderly person is then encouraged to withdraw all their savings and then they are robbed.

“Sabric encourages people to empower themselves by sharing information selectively, and on a need-to-know basis only. This is why we are adding the hashtag label #NotSaying to all our messaging, to remind people to not just share any personal information without careful consideration when prompted to do so,” said Susan Potgieter, Sabric acting CEO.

Do not use internet cafés, hotels or conference centres to do your banking.

Alert the South African Fraud Prevention Service immediately if your ID is lost and use strong passwords for all your accounts, warned Sabric.

Sabric also warned in a presentation that the “s” in the “https” no longer guarantees that a website is secure. Check your bank balance after making any shopping payment and report any fraudulent transactions to your bank.

The Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners (ICPF) hosted three events this past week in Joburg, Durban and Cape Town. The Joburg event had well-known crime fighter and head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, Willie Hofmeyr, as the keynote speaker.

In Durban, the two keynote speakers were advocate Ryno de Water, who discussed public sector fraud, and Chad Thomas, who discussed laws to fight financial and organised crime.

In Cape Town, the speakers were drawn from both the public sector as well as the private sector and included Brigadier Mokgadi Bokaba from the Hawks, who discussed the potential for the establishment of public-private partnerships between the State law enforcement agencies and the private sector.

Other speakers at the Cape Town event included Pontso Nyathi from SizweNtsalubaGobodo and Adam Brown, who discussed artificial intelligence in combating and investigating fraud and corruption and Thomas who discussed legislation used in fighting financial and organised crimes.

“It was really encouraging to see representatives from both the public and private sector attending these important events. What I found especially important was that we did not just discuss the problem of fraud and corruption, but that we all actively engaged with one another to identify ways in which to effectively investigate these serious ever evolving crimes,” said Thomas.

“Delegates that attended the various events hosted by the ICFP throughout South Africa during International Fraud Week all agreed that a co-ordinated effort is needed to fight fraud and corruption. Members invited government officials to form a public-private partnership so we can fight corruption together,” said Chris de Beer, executive manager at ICFP.

via - IOL