AN investigation carried out by Vodacom into Miriam Janse van Vuuren’s sim swap, resulting in her losing a whopping R21 000, revealed it was carried out by a corrupt employee of the mobile phone company.
The swindler was arrested last Sunday on charges of fraud and appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court last week.
However, Vodacom is not accepting liability for Janse van Vuuren’s financial loss, stating the suspect accessing her bank details was the root cause of the breach.
The company stated its relevant records are available to banks to investigate a possible sim swap prior to allowing unusual transactions and new beneficiaries on customers’ accounts.
FNB is currently investigating the defrauded Zululander’s case, warning the public to be on the alert and contact the bank immediately when receiving messages that a sim swap has been initiated.
Janse van Vuuren stands firm in her fight to retrieve her stolen money which has caused her to incur a hefty overdraft she is battling to pay off.
While sim swapping is allegedly a fairly rare scam, usually requiring a corrupt bank employee and a corrupt cell phone service provider employee, victims stand to lose everything.
A recent Zulucom newsletter warned Zululanders of the scam, explaining how it works.
Once the sim swap has been initiated, a two-hour delay instituted by cell phone service providers as a safety mechanism, gives the customer time to refuse the sim swap after receiving a notification SMS.
During these two hours, the fraudsters continually phone their victim, hanging up when their call is answered.
This causes the victim to ignore the notification SMS and the fraudulent sim swap goes ahead.
@TamlynJolly
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