{"id":857024,"date":"2026-04-17T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857024"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:52:20","slug":"great-news-for-capitec-customers-in-south-africa-with-banking-apps-on-their-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/857024\/great-news-for-capitec-customers-in-south-africa-with-banking-apps-on-their-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"Great news for Capitec customers in South Africa with banking apps on their phones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s biggest bank by customers, Capitec, has introduced a new real-time fraud prevention tool for customers through its banking app, as it moves to combat criminals and scammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec Chief Information Officer Andrew Baker told BusinessTech that the new feature will help clients identify potentially risky payments in real-time, before money leaves their account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If a payment shows signs of elevated risk, the client receives a warning and can pause to review the transaction before proceeding,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These alerts are precautionary and do not mean a beneficiary is confirmed to be fraudulent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker added that, in cases where payment remains uncertain, Capitec will delay it further by completing additional security checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank has been slowly rolling out this safety feature since 2025 as part of an ongoing investment in proactive fraud prevention, aimed at analysing payments in real time to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Capitec Executive Programme Head for Anti-Money Laundering, Blessing Mgaga, the bank blocked over 394,000 fraudulent transactions in 2025, preventing more than R642 million in losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Additionally, we\u2019ve identified and stopped more than 64,000 mule accounts used to move stolen money quickly through the financial system,” Mgaga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These numbers show the scale of the threat, but they also show how fraud is changing. It is no longer only about breaking into systems.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mgaga said there is a growing trend where influencing individuals has become a critical part of scamming people, and this phenomenon spans various industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that one might come across a discounted phone on a marketplace, a holiday apartment advertised at an unusually low price, or an investment opportunity on social media that claims high returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there are messages that appear to originate from their own bank, alerting them to suspicious activity and urging immediate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This scenario illustrates the reality of push payment fraud, where individuals are pressured into transferring money into a fraudster’s account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That is why our response is designed to do more than detect fraud in the background,” Mgaga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We continue to invest in technology that helps us identify, block and disrupt high-risk activity before losses happen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to avoid being scammed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Capitec said bank impersonation scams are often polished and convincing, designed to create fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the goal is not to steal information directly but to influence a person’s next action that will benefit the fraudster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We look for opportunities to protect clients in these moments by warning, delaying or blocking transactions where behaviour suggests a scam may be underway,” said Mgaga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The same applies to many of the scams criminals are using today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deposit and marketplace scams, courier and bank impersonation scams via SMS and WhatsApp, and investment scams linked to crypto or deepfake-style platforms all rely on one thing: getting the victim to act before they stop and think.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malware remains part of the broader fraud landscape, and Capitec said it is enhancing its approach to threats affecting client devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, Capitec’s malware prevention has safeguarded over 500 clients and averted approximately R31 million in potential losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is significant, it also highlights a larger reality. Although technical threats remain important, many of today’s most significant fraud risks are behavioural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group offered key advice, urging clients to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Pause before paying a deposit for something they have not verified<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Be cautious of links sent by SMS or WhatsApp, even when they appear legitimate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Walk away from investment opportunities or offers that begin in informal channels or promise returns that seem too good to be true.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Capitec said public discussions surrounding fraud must be precise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When the emphasis is too heavily placed on technical compromises, it can create the false impression that the primary risk stems from hacked systems or infected devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In many instances, the true threat lies in the interaction itself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Capitec has slowly been rolling out a new real-time safety feature that warns customers of suspicious accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":838807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1798,1334,2504,375],"class_list":["post-857024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-capitec","tag-fraud","tag-scam","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857024","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857024"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857491,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857024\/revisions\/857491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}