Beware new Capitec scam: It is not your bank calling
A new scam, targeting the bank's clients, is again showing how sophisticated scammers are getting to steal your money - with your help. These scammers play a psychological game to make you trust them and even have the gall to call back and try again if you end the call.
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Capitec bank client Marguerite van Wyk from Cape Town was one of the bank scam victims this week and lost R3 000. Someone called her from “Capitec’s fraud department,” asking if she had recently paid R3 900 to a travel company overseas. This woman also had her bank account number and said that she checked her statements and thought the payment was irregular which is why they are checking with her if she in fact made the payment.
When Van Wyk said she did not make the payment, the woman said she will block the nasty scammers who withdrew the money. “We will help you to send it back to your account with the Capitec App,” she said.
Van Wyk believed her and under the guise of creating a new pin, the woman got Van Wyk to enter what was in fact a cash voucher code the scammers could redeem immediately. “Luckily I was checking my bank account and saw the amount of money in my account decreasing instead of increasing. I ended the call,” she said.
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The woman called again, saying that she just wants to help Van Wyk get her money back. “When I had to part with another R2 000, I ended the call and called Capitec. They said they have heard the story before and will put the last R2 000 on hold.”
Another person called Van Wyk again the same afternoon and tried to scam her with the same story, but this time she was prepared and just ended the call.
Capitec has warned consumers earlier about fraudsters who call you claiming to be from your bank’s fraud department, warning that there was either an attempt to commit fraud on your account or that a stop order was loaded.
“In order for them to block this activity, consumers are told to approve the confirmation messages sent to their banking app using their pin. The fraudsters then lead the panicking consumer through the process of performing a transaction on the app, unknowingly transferring funds to the fraudster,” Capitec said.
A spokesperson for Capitec said there was no link between this scam and the Experian leak of consumers’ details a few months ago.
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