{"id":843815,"date":"2025-11-19T16:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T14:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=843815"},"modified":"2025-11-19T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T14:42:19","slug":"allan-gray-fraud-warning-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/843815\/allan-gray-fraud-warning-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Allan Gray fraud warning for South Africa\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Allan Gray has warned that investment fraud and scams remain a significant and serious issue facing South Africans and has offered a host of tips to avoid being a victim.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twanji Kalula, communications manager at Allan Gray, warned that scams remain rife as would-be investors are lured by promises of enticing returns, often for little effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scams range from Ponzi schemes to cryptocurrency cons. The Association for Savings & Investment South Africa (ASISA) recorded a 26% year-on-year uptick in fraud cases in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to investing, the adage rings true: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Any investment that promises extremely high returns, particularly in the short term, should be approached with trepidation,\u201d warned Kalula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that when considering an investment, one should seek to understand how one’s capital will be used to generate returns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestors typically earn returns by investing in an asset that either increases in value over time or generates income. Many assets do both,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf an investment provider cannot explain how returns are generated, or the investment requires the investor to recruit other people to generate returns, something is amiss.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that a common form of cybercrime is phishing, in which criminals impersonate banks and financial institutions via phone, email, or SMS to access sensitive personal data, such as login details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCybercriminals try to create a sense of alarm to spur investors into taking immediate action,\u201d added Kalula. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalula said that investors should be sceptical of any urgent request to change a password, verify details, avoid having an account suspended, or prevent a fraud attempt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalula believes investors should view any urgent request to change a password, verify details, or prevent an account from being suspended or a fraud attempt with scepticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another tell-tale sign of phishing is a fake sender address in an email. One should also make sure the sender\u2019s address is accurate and contains the correct domain name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phishing emails are typically riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, criminals are now utilising AI to enhance the quality of their communications, allowing them to target victims with greater accuracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another common tactic scammers use to defraud investors is impersonating employees from reputable financial institutions, particularly through social media platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExercise caution when someone claiming to be a representative of an established company tries to solicit new investments via social media platforms, as they may be using a fake or compromised account to do so,\u201d said Kalula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four main steps that <\/strong>Kalula said will help lower one\u2019s chances of being a victim of financial crime:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Invest with reputable financial institutions <\/h2>\n\n\n
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One should only invest with financial institutions that are regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and hold a Financial Services Provider (FSP) number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most reputable firms are also unlikely to use social media or any instant messaging platform to initiate new investments, manage existing investment accounts or engage with clients over their investments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Get the right advice<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Criminals often win over their victims by pretending to be knowledgeable financial professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When seeking the services of a financial professional, including an independent financial adviser, it is essential to verify that they are in good standing with regulators, such as the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Protect your investment accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n
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One should also avoid opening attachments or clicking on links in emails and SMS messages without verifying their authenticity, as they may be malicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One should also prioritise password hygiene regularly by protecting every investment account with a unique, complex password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alert on the phone <\/h2>\n\n\n
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South Africans should also avoid unsolicited phone calls from anyone claiming to be affiliated with a financial institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are in doubt, hang up and contact the entity using its official, verified contact details.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allan Gray has highlighted South Africa’s fraud epidemic, and has provided tips for South Africans to stay safe. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":824271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[6756],"class_list":["post-843815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-allan-gray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843815","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843815"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843865,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843815\/revisions\/843865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}