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Flood of SIM swap victims come forward

Cape Town - Fin24 was inundated with emails on Tuesday from users who lost money through SIM swap incidents in the last couple of months.

The outpour follows a report on Tuesday that Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman lost R360 000 over the weekend in what appears to be a hit from a SIM-swap syndicate.

Weideman told Die Burger that without her knowledge an amount of R1.5m was transferred from her home loan to her cheque account. Before Absa Group [JSE:ASA] could freeze her account, smaller amounts to a total of R360 000 were transferred to an account in the name of "Badiba Madiba".

Weideman told Die Burger that her SIM card would not work on Sunday. “Yesterday (Monday) I asked my assistant to contact MTN Group [JSE:MTN], but according to MTN there was nothing wrong.

“Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Absa’s internet fraud unit, who told me that my internet service has been stopped and that money had been withdrawn from my account," Weideman said.

She said when she reported the case at the Rondebosch police station, she met a couple who had lost R5 000 in the same way.

Absa is investigating the incident. Fin24 also asked MTN for comment and is awaiting a reply.

Fin24 user Eben van Heerden, who saw R110 000 transferred from his Absa account in a similar way, said someone used a fake identity document to do a SIM swap and managed to get access to his cheque account.

The money was transferred to a Capitec bank account, and as in Weideman’s case, also on a Sunday.

Murray Baxter wrote that "it is not a scam, but outright theft. He was alluding to a syndicate operating between MTN / Absa.

Baxter said at the end of last month at 22:50 R117 000 was stolen from his father-in-law's bank account.

“He is 95 years old and if he hears that his life savings were stolen it might mean his death,” he said.

Fin24 user Gail Peddie was, as Weideman, also a victim of a SIM swap syndicate.

She said she did not respond to any phishing emails and never divulged senstivie information to a third party - yet she still lost R67 500.

“Both Absa and MTN have responded that they are not liable. Where to go to from here?” she asked.

Fin24 user Angela September had funds removed from her account while withdrawing at an ATM right outside a bank.

All they said was fill in a fraud claim, she said.

Gene Putter wrote that exactly the same happened to his parents' business in September last year.

"Absa takes no responsibility... will not repay money. Vodacom arrested 10 people in Midrand and Capitec created a receiving account without proper Fica procedures."

More letters from SIM swap victims. 





 
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