{"id":837042,"date":"2025-09-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=837042"},"modified":"2025-09-08T17:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:11:30","slug":"woolworths-fraud-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/837042\/woolworths-fraud-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths fraud warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths Financial Services has warned its customers about the alarming rise in fraud incidents, urging them to be vigilant against increasingly sophisticated scams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer said that criminals are using new tactics to trick people into handing over sensitive information, often by posing as trusted institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always looking for ways to make your shopping experience safer and more secure. With card and identity fraud on the rise, it\u2019s very easy to be scammed, so we\u2019ve put together some tips to help you protect your account,\u201d Woolworths said in its latest fraud alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company explained that one of the latest scams convinces people to share their personal information online or via SMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminals often disguise themselves as banks or retailers and contact customers with urgent messages. They then reset login details and persuade victims to disclose their personal data, sometimes even verifying it through One Time Pins (OTPs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you receive an OTP and haven\u2019t requested one, logged into your banking profile, or done a transaction, do not approve it. If you do so, you\u2019ll give fraudsters access to your login details,\u201d Woolworths said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other tactics include phishing, which happens via email, and smishing, which is the SMS version of the same scam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers are sent fake links that direct them to fraudulent websites where they unknowingly enter personal details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scammers sometimes call directly, pretending to be from a bank\u2019s or retailer\u2019s fraud department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey claim they want to remove suspicious transactions and then instruct customers to download remote access software before logging on to online banking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey may even tell customers to ignore calls from their bank. Never download remote access software, give out your PIN, or give anyone access to your desktop, laptop, or phone,\u201d Woolworths said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning from Woolworths comes just after several banks also raised the alarm about the growing fraud crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing threat <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), the threat has escalated dramatically, with syndicates becoming more technologically advanced and harder to detect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation\u2019s latest Annual Crime Statistics for 2024 reveal that the industry could be heading into what experts call a \u201cfraud storm\u201d in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sharpest surge has been in digital banking crime, which increased by 86% last year. Reported cases rose from 52,000 in 2023 to nearly 98,000 in 2024, while financial losses soared 74% to R1.888 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banking apps have become the primary target, accounting for 65% of all cases, with more than R1.2 billion lost through these channels alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminals are now using highly advanced techniques such as AI-generated scams, deepfake impersonations, QR code phishing known as \u201cquishing,\u201d SIM swap fraud, and malware disguised as genuine mobile apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABRIC\u2019s data shows that even with stronger banking security systems, human error remained the biggest weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social engineering\u2014where criminals manipulate people into revealing information\u2014has become the main tool of fraudsters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victims often face a multi-step attack, where a phishing email is followed by a convincing phone call, known as \u201cvishing,\u201d from someone pretending to be bank staff. This combination makes it more likely that victims will hand over their PINs, OTPs, or login credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraud has also spread beyond digital banking into other sectors of credit and finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsecured credit fraud surged by 57.6%, with over 62,000 fraudulent applications reported, while actual losses more than doubled to R221.7 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, card fraud has continued to rise despite the shift to digital platforms. Losses from card-related crime increased by 26.2% last year, reaching R1.466 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most common form is \u201ccard-not-present\u201d fraud, where stolen card details are used for online transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The widespread availability of artificial intelligence has made scams more convincing, while underground \u201cFraud-as-a-Service\u201d platforms now sell phishing kits, malware, and mule accounts, allowing almost anyone to get involved in criminal activity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woolworths Financial Services has warned its customers about the alarming rise in fraud incidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":773143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[1334,853,21466,949],"class_list":["post-837042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-fraud","tag-south-africa","tag-the-south-african-banking-risk-information-centre-sabric","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837042","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=837042"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837064,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837042\/revisions\/837064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}