Johannesburg - Banking clients were collectively robbed of
R180m in 2010, the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court has heard, according to a
report.
Testifying in court on Monday, SA Banking Risk Information
Centre commercial crimes general manager Susan Potgieter said the figure was up
from R40m in 2009, The Sowetan newspaper reported.
She said in 2009, 1 500 banking customers lodged complaints
about phishing.
Phishing is an email scam to obtain people's usernames,
passwords, and credit card details by directing them to almost identical
replicas of company websites.
Potgieter was testifying in the case against four men
accused of defrauding 10 Vodacom customers out of around R380 000.
Mbokodana Khoza, Mbusi Bhengu, Gregory Oduore and Thabiso Gwebuza allegedly did this by intercepting sms communication which gave them access to confidential banking information.