{"id":870912,"date":"2026-09-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870912"},"modified":"2026-09-11T18:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:12:43","slug":"warning-to-anyone-looking-to-buy-a-used-car-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/870912\/warning-to-anyone-looking-to-buy-a-used-car-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning to anyone looking to buy a used car in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) is warning consumers about a rise in sophisticated digital scams, especially in the pre-owned vehicle market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), there were 147,149 recorded cases of commercial crime in the country between April 2025 and March 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reflects a 2.5% overall increase in commercial and fraud-related offences.\u00a0 A 2026 study by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance found that 85% of participants in South Africa had encountered a scam in the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NADA said that the situation is further complicated in the retail automotive sector by the rapid spread of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group explained that scammers are now using generative AI and digital manipulation software to create convincing vehicle listings, official-looking dealership and banking identities, and even clone voice and video messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NADA said that this makes online vehicle fraud more difficult to detect than ever before, which leaves consumers susceptible to getting scammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGenerative AI has made it easier for fraudsters,” said NADA Vice-Chairperson Thembinkosi Pantsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In the past, poor grammar, blurry images, or inconsistent branding were easily noticeable red flags,\u201d said Pantsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NADA warned that scammers are now using AI to quickly generate realistic advertisements, complete with convincing email and social media profiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that fraudsters claim they can secure a repossessed vehicle before it goes to a bank auction in exchange for an upfront holding fee.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the group, in South Africa, repossessed vehicles are strictly sold through accredited auction houses and never via private messaging apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also warned that scammers create a false sense of urgency, insisting that potential buyers make an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to “hold” the vehicle and prevent it from being sold to other alleged interested buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While scammers may use AI to generate convincing photos or pre-recorded videos, they will consistently make excuses to avoid allowing an in-person viewing at a verifiable physical location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of digital banking scams in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
TymeBank Head of Fraud, Bonolo Sebolai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, South Africans were warned about a rapidly growing and extremely dangerous form of digital fraud that targets individuals through their smartphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These scams are known as RAT attacks, which stands for Remote Access Trojan attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are particularly effective because many victims are unaware of them and don\u2019t realise what is happening until it is too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAT attacks involve malicious software that allows criminals to remotely control a person\u2019s phone or computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gives fraudsters direct access to the victim\u2019s device, enabling them to operate banking apps in real time while the customer is still using the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonolo Sebolai, Head of Fraud at TymeBank, said that these scams are among the most sophisticated affecting South African consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRAT scams are particularly dangerous and extremely sophisticated because they are designed to use the device at the same time as the customer without any clear signs of a device takeover,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that criminals often don\u2019t steal login details; instead, they take control of the device.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa, RAT scams typically start with a phone call or message claiming to be from a bank’s fraud department, a mobile network provider, a courier company, an online retailer, or even a government department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victims are informed of an urgent problem with their account, device, or a pending delivery. They are then instructed to click a link or install an app, usually sent via WhatsApp or SMS, that supposedly resolves the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once this software is installed, the scammer can see everything happening on the screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes PINs and passwords as they are entered, one-time passwords sent by the bank, and even live banking transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo the bank, it can look like the customer is making the transaction themselves because the criminal is actually using the customer\u2019s own device,\u201d said Sebolai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People looking to buy cars in South Africa have been warned about sophisticated digital scams, especially in the pre-owned vehicle market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":680307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2099060782692433980","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2204157240404675","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[17961,5784],"class_list":["post-870912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-national-automobile-dealers-association-nada","tag-south-african-police-service-saps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870912","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=870912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870950,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870912\/revisions\/870950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}