{"id":880136,"date":"2026-10-17T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=880136"},"modified":"2026-10-16T15:53:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:53:56","slug":"warning-for-people-using-whatsapp-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/880136\/warning-for-people-using-whatsapp-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning for people using WhatsApp in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent cases have emerged in which cybercriminals have taken over WhatsApp accounts and contacted users’ contacts to request money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cybersecurity expert Boikokobetso Makhetlane told Cape Talk<\/a> that there are numerous ways for cybercriminals to “hack” users’ accounts and get access to their information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first method Makhetlane describes is SIM card jacking, which is when cybercriminals take over a person’s SIM card, “think of it as SIM swap,” he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This method, as he describes it, involves criminals performing a SIM swap without the user’s knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the criminals may also send the user a code to verify, or even call the user, posing as a service provider and asking for verification details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that by posing as a service provider, criminals inform the user about suspicious activity on their phone or SIM card and request additional information for verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhetlane highlighted that simply having a person’s cellphone number allows cybercriminals to commit many scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that these criminals often send messages to family members, work colleagues, or friends of the original cellphone number’s owner, posing as that person to obtain money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhetlane warned that sensitive information shared via WhatsApp can easily be compromised by scammers or cybercriminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can pose a huge risk to the protection of information such as banking or credit card details, passwords, and the residential addresses of friends and family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A potential warning sign of a scammer taking over a WhatsApp account is a cellphone suddenly losing mobile network connection, or WhatsApp sending a notification that a user’s cellphone number is registered on another device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you do see that, immediately contact your network service provider as soon as possible to verify that everything is still intact because you need to double-check everything,” said Makhetlane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhetlane noted that cybersecurity experts have increasingly discovered that scammers are sending links to individuals, which, if opened, serve as direct entry points for them to take over a person’s WhatsApp account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts have urged WhatsApp users to enable two-factor authentication and to constantly monitor which devices are connected to their accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scammers targeting banking apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
BioCatch Director of Global Advisory Jonathan Frost<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Discovery Bank issued a warning that criminals were manipulating customers into authorising transactions themselves rather than hacking into bank accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlways check payment and card purchase requests before approving them. Banks will never ask you to approve a reversal of a fraudulent transaction,\u201d the bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank said that anyone who loses their card or phone should immediately block their card using the banking app, if possible, and contact the bank\u2019s fraud team without delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have access to your banking app, block your card, then contact our fraud team straight away. Fraudsters can misuse lost cards and devices within minutes,\u201d Discovery Bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraud-prevention specialist BioCatch issued an alert indicating that South African banks are under rising pressure from increasingly sophisticated scams targeting customers rather than banking systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the company’s research, 85% of banking leaders in South Africa have reported an increase in fraud attempts against their institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, around 79% of respondents indicated that fraud losses are rising, while 81% estimated that their institutions lose over $5 million, or approximately R82 million, to fraud each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings suggest that criminals are adapting their tactics because banks have improved their ability to prevent traditional unauthorised account takeovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapid growth of digital banking and instant payment systems has made banking faster and more convenient for users, but it has also given scammers more opportunities to pressure victims into approving transactions before considering their safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts at BioCatch warned that the threat may become more serious in the future as criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence to create convincing scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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Experts have warned of a rise in WhatsApp account takeovers by cybercriminals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":795311,"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":"2111427270921306339","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2240115756808823","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18349566871268197","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1117,6930,2118],"class_list":["post-880136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-cybercrime","tag-sim-swap-fraud","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880136","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=880136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880165,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880136\/revisions\/880165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}