{"id":832312,"date":"2025-07-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832312"},"modified":"2025-07-24T14:02:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T12:02:03","slug":"capitec-fraud-warning-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/832312\/capitec-fraud-warning-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitec fraud warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Capitec has warned its customers that criminals are increasingly posing as banking and government officials to scare victims into sharing their banking information.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank noted that scammers are taking advantage of tax season by sending fake emails and SMSes that appear to come from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), hoping to trick unsuspecting victims into handing over sensitive information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs tax season begins, beware of fake emails and SMSs from scammers pretending to be SARS,\u201d Capitec said in a statement to its customers via its mobile banking app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey may threaten you with penalties for an outstanding payment or claim a tax refund due to you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes shortly after similar concerns raised by SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter, who recently noted a spike in fraudulent notices sent to taxpayers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include fake audit requests and phishing links, designed to exploit individuals expecting refunds from SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kieswetter stressed that SARS will never request sensitive information via email or SMS. Capitec reinforced this and reminded clients that SARS will never send you links via email or SMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank advised clients to sign in to their official eFiling profile for SARS updates. \u201cOnly pay using the registered SARS beneficiary on your banking app. SARS will never ask for your PIN, password or card info,\u201d the bank added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to impersonating SARS, fraudsters have escalated their tactics by pretending to be the police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Capitec, scammers will call, pretending to be from a legitimate organisation, and claim that your identity is linked to a serious crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They then transfer the call to someone posing as a police officer, who says there\u2019s a warrant for your arrest and that you must prove your innocence, often by logging into your bank account or handing over personal details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever share your PINs or bank info, even if you think it’s SAPS. Don\u2019t let them transfer you\u2014call SAPS on their official number,\u201d Capitec warned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSAPS shouldn’t ask you for money or to sign into your bank app. SAPS shouldn’t use WhatsApp for investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always verify the call<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The scammers have even started pretending to be banking employees. \u201cScammers may call pretending to be us to steal your info and money,\u201d the bank said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It advised clients to always verify the call. For Capitec clients, the bank advised logging into the banking app while on the call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring a call, sign in to our app and check for a banner at the top of the screen. A green banner indicates that it is us (you’ll see the agent’s name), while a red banner means we cannot verify the call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t verify the call, hang up and call us using the new call feature in our app. Don\u2019t believe anyone who says the banner isn\u2019t working. Only answer calls from Capitec on your phone that has our app,\u201d the bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) has echoed Capitec\u2019s concerns, warning that fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated methods to steal money from bank customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that criminals are constantly evolving their tactics, especially when it comes to physical bank cards, and urged customers to shift to digital wallets and virtual cards wherever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to BASA, physical card fraud includes counterfeiting, using lost or stolen cards, submitting false applications, and committing card-not-present fraud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCard fraud is difficult for the banking industry because perpetrators prey on the vulnerabilities of bank customers and do not target banking systems,\u201d the association explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many cases, counterfeiters create fake cards using data stolen from the magnetic strip of a legitimate card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other times, criminals repurpose lost, stolen, or expired cards by re-encoding them with information taken from actual users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skimming devices, often placed at ATMs or point-of-sale terminals, continue to be commonly used to collect this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical cards also pose a risk because they can be intercepted before reaching the rightful owner, or simply stolen and used to make fraudulent purchases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASA recommended that customers who still use physical tap-to-pay cards set transaction limits that require a PIN for larger purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another fraud method involves submitting fake applications using stolen personal information to acquire cards illegally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, BASA noted that this type of fraud has declined significantly thanks to stronger controls introduced through the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and the National Credit Act (NCA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While progress has been made, the combination of phishing attacks, fake calls, and card fraud means South Africans must remain alert and cautious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec reminded its customers never to share their personal banking information with anyone, especially if they claim to be calling from a government department, the police, or the bank itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capitec has warned its customers that criminals are increasingly posing as banking and government officials to gain access to bank accounts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":831079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1798,1334,853,21925],"class_list":["post-832312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-capitec","tag-fraud","tag-south-africa","tag-the-banking-association-of-south-africa-basa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832340,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832312\/revisions\/832340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}