{"id":872833,"date":"2026-09-01T09:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872833"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:41:41","slug":"warning-about-bank-account-takeovers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/872833\/warning-about-bank-account-takeovers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning about bank account takeovers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone with bank and card accounts is being warned that account takeover fraud losses are rising in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the 2025 SABRIC Annual Crime Statistics Report, account takeover fraud occurs when criminals unlawfully hijack an existing customer’s account credentials to manipulate funds and payment mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the SABRIC, the fraud often starts with criminals tricking customers into handing over sensitive banking information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccount Takeover fraud usually begins when fraudsters obtain a customer\u2019s banking or card credentials through phishing emails, malicious links or phone calls in which they impersonate bank officials,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers are then persuaded to provide login details or one-time passwords (OTPs), enabling criminals to access accounts, conduct unauthorised transactions, and withdraw or transfer funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABRIC also warned that criminals are increasingly using remote-access software and screen-sharing features in these scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVictims were persuaded to install remote-access software or enable screen-sharing functionality under the pretence of receiving technical support, fraud prevention assistance, or account verification services,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once access is granted, criminals can potentially view sensitive information, interfere with transactions, capture credentials or help transfer money to newly added beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity compromise, credential theft, synthetic identities and SIM-swap activity can also be combined to facilitate Account Takeover fraud and help criminals move or conceal the proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the increase was particularly noticeable on cards. Credit card Account Takeover losses rose 66.7%, from R12.6 million in 2024 to almost R21 million in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debit card losses increased even more sharply, jumping from R1.65 million to R7.02 million, an increase of more than 325%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these losses occurred domestically. South Africa accounted for 80.1% of credit card account takeover losses and 75.9% of debit card losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor credit cards, ATMs, Wholesale Retailers and Supermarkets were among the main merchant groups, with ATM withdrawals accounting for 27.3% of losses,\u201d SABRIC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor debit cards, Wholesale Clubs (accounting for 33.9% fraud losses), Foreign Currency Agencies and Supermarkets were prominent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broader increase in card fraud in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The report said the South African experience reflects a wider international trend, where criminals increasingly use phishing, impersonation, and other social engineering tactics to obtain credentials or manipulate authentication processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These attacks exploit customer trust rather than directly breaking into banking systems. Criminals may impersonate bank employees, persuade customers to approve access or authorise payments under false pretences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes against a broader increase in card fraud in South Africa. Combined credit and debit card fraud losses increased 18% year-on-year to R1.75 billion in 2025, up from R1.48 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credit card losses increased 29.3% to R739.2 million, while debit card losses rose 10.9% to R1.01 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Card-not-present fraud remained the largest contributor at R780.5 million, while lost or stolen card fraud accounted for R287.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABRIC also reported significant developments across other forms of financial crime. Vehicle asset finance fraud applications increased 41% to 71,747, while potential losses prevented or declined reached R28.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mortgage fraud applications rose 3.4% to 4,942, although potential losses declined to R5.3 billion. Unsecured lending fraud applications fell 34% to 41,148.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical attacks on banks generally declined. ATM attacks fell by 45.8% to 163 incidents, while bank branch robberies dropped from 8 to 2. However, associated robberies, including ATM-related \u201cfollow-follow\u201d incidents, increased 43% to 592.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone with bank and card accounts is being warned that account takeover fraud losses are rising in South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":864901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2094692493728084435","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2192641074889625","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18076678493357218","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1334,853,21466],"class_list":["post-872833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-fraud","tag-south-africa","tag-the-south-african-banking-risk-information-centre-sabric"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872833","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=872833"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872886,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872833\/revisions\/872886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}