Nthabi Nhlapo reflects on the shock that jolted her out of holiday mode when she became a credit card fraud victim. Sadly, she also discovered that not much can be done to help victims speedily when these instances are reported.
It's time to get back to reality, and what worse way to be reminded that the dreaminess and kindness of the festive season is just a short break from real life then becoming a credit card fraud statistic? Once the elves returned to the North Pole, and the Christmas trees found their way back into their dusty boxes, thugs have started sneaking around, making Januworry more of a headache than it already is.
I hope no one else started their New Year as I did with a text on 2 January that read: "Miss Nhlapo, your CTM Store Card is ready for collection from your nearest CTM store today. Remember to take your original ID card/book or driver's licence with you."
This text was followed by a shocking one that immediately jolted me out of holiday mode. It read: "CTM Card: Thank you for purchasing at Shoprite Checkers… for R19 500.00." A few minutes later, another text followed, confirming a R488 purchase. This left a balance of R11 on the card, which seemingly had a R20 000 credit limit.
All these texts would be fine, except the purchases were made in Gordon's Bay, Cape Town, while I sat at home in Randburg, Joburg - over 1 400km away. To add salt to the wound, I do not have a CTM card and have never applied for one. In fact, I didn't even have an idea that the store had a credit facility or that you could use their card to make purchases at Checkers.
I did, of course, contact the company's fraud department to report the case. However, this is a massive inconvenience, especially since I also discovered that the fraudulent transaction has already been listed on my credit record. Moreover, it will take 21 working days to complete an investigation into the issue – and the outcome is not guaranteed to be in my favour.
Just as we prepare to return to a new year and make our vision boards, such incidents can undoubtedly put a damper on your mood and frustrate your efforts to have a positive year. It's also worrying to be forced to wait for investigations to be completed and an outcome to be communicated. But the reality is that this is the country we live in, where fraud is rife, and the consequences are few, while ordinary people find themselves forced to deal with the results of blatant criminality.
A report by university researchers and published in various journals attempts to explain credit card fraud in the Vaal Region in South Africa, which happens to be where I grew up. The researchers say the growing volume of electronic payments and the monetary strain of credit card fraud is becoming a substantial challenge for financial institutions and service providers, thus forcing them to improve their fraud detection systems continuously.
However, criminals are also getting more intelligent and finding ways to bypass these systems. Recent South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) crime statistics revealed that card-not-present (CNP) fraud - a fraudulent transaction where neither the card nor the cardholder is present while conducting the transactions - contributed to 55.3% of all card fraud in 2021.
CNP fraud increased by 31.5% compared to 2020. Digital banking fraud incidents decreased by 18% overall but while the number of incidents declined, there was a 45% increase in the total gross losses in digital banking in the reporting period. ATM attacks increased by 11% with a 17% increase in losses while vehicle and asset finance fraud increased by 53%.
According to SABRIC, the most prominent scams reported by the banking industry during 2021 were phishing and OTP vishing, where clients were manipulated into providing banking details to fraudsters who pretended to be bank officials.
Sadly, not much can be done to help victims speedily when these instances are reported. In my case, all I can do is wait for the investigation to be concluded.
In the Vaal region paper, researchers noted: "The participants from the SAPS in all three areas indicated that they do not have a strategy to investigate credit card fraud as the perpetrators of this crime use advanced technological techniques and tools. They highlighted that they do not have skills or technological tools and they lack resources to investigate cases of credit card fraud."
It's about time that something is done about the high levels of criminality in this country because living a "God-help-me, fingers-crossed" existence has no place in a democratic modern society.
- Nthabi Nhlapo is the editor of W24
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