Elderly warned of scam targeting them for their pension and grant money.
According to Sophiatown Police Station spokesperson Captain TJ De Bruyn, the station has received complaints of pensioners and the elderly being targeted by suspects via phone calls to retrieve sensitive and confidential information. “These suspects call the elderly early in the morning or late in the evening and take advantage of them telling them they are calling from their bank in relation to unauthorised spending taking place. Victims believe this and share banking details codes and PINs with the suspects and shortly afterwards their bank accounts are cleared of their pension and grant money.”
He reminded the elderly community and public as a whole that no bank will call a customer asking to exchange such details over the phone outside of office hours.
The captain urged members of the public to rather call their banks on their own to confirm if there has been a credible attempt to contact the customer and what can and cannot happen in that phone call.
The police have offered the following safety tips the public can use to avoid falling victim to scams and fraud:
- Never respond to emails or cell phone messages appearing to be from your bank, which requests your personal details. Remember that no bank will ever ask you to confirm or update your account details by email.
- Never provide your online ID, password or PIN to anyone and never write them down or share them.
- Do not save your Internet banking password on your desktop or easily accessible files on your computer or phone.
- Do not leave your computer unattended after you have entered your Internet banking password.
- Always log off or sign off on banking websites at the end of a session.
- Avoid doing Internet banking in public areas such as Internet cafés, or on any computer that can be accessed by people you do not know.
- Change your PIN and passwords frequently.
- Put sensible transaction limits on your accounts.
- Only provide your credit card details to reputable companies.
- If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.
- Never send money or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust.
