Bank cautions against relying on post, email for banking statements

The fraudsters intercept bank statements containing confidential information.

March 12, 2021

Xoliswa Kali 1 minute read

In recent years, there has been a rise in attempts to defraud customers through email and post.
The fraudsters intercept bank statements containing confidential information.
In some cases, this results in identity theft where fraudsters impersonate victims or fabricate business communication, which leads to financial losses.
Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB retail and private banking, said “We’ve solved for this vulnerability of confidential information by enabling our banking customers to access banking information via our digital channels at no additional charge.

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This includes bank account information, verified statements for up to 12 months, viewing and changing PINs, blocking and unblock cards.
“Our banking customers can download and view statements via FNB’s deposit-taking ATMs, digital zones in our branches and cellphone banking.
“Fraudsters often target elderly customers and it’s for this reason that we are dedicating significant resources to educating and supporting our elderly customers to use safer channels in the comfort of their homes or inside our branches with human assistance from our teams.”
The importance of safety is echoed by Gordon Little, CEO of FNB commercial, who says businesses are not immune to the threat of fraud via email or post, especially small businesses.

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“Unlike major corporates, SMEs do not have the human and financial resources to fight various forms of fraud like business email compromise, which is very common.
“Hence, we encourage our clients to rather use our digital channels, which offer world-class security to access their banking information through a trusted platform.
“In instances where a business transaction concerns a third-party, we encourage our business clients to always authenticate banking details directly with us or the corresponding bank,” he said.