Cape Argus - The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) annual crime stats for 2021 show ATM attacks increased by 11% in 2021 with a 17% increase in losses.
Sabric chief executive Nischal Mewalall said they were concerned by the rise in the number of ATM attacks, despite the technology and security measures used to make ATMs safer.
The crime stats data shows that criminals who target ATMs are increasingly opting to use explosives over their previously preferred tool, the angle grinder, despite the fact that such attacks are more likely to damage the money in the machines.
Sabric reported that incidents where explosives were used increased by 15%, whereas the number of angle grinder incidents decreased by 11%, from 47 in 2020 to 42 incidents in 2021.
At the same time the data showed that while banking on digital platforms such as apps, online and over the telephone, now exceeds all other transaction channels in South Africa, it is also the safest way to bank.
The data showed that from 2020 to 2021, digital banking fraud incidents decreased by 18% overall, and Mewalall said: “The biggest decline in fraud incidents occurred in mobile banking fraud.”
For the first time, Sabric’s annual crime stats publication featured application fraud via vehicle and assets, home loans and unsecured fraud using current, cheque and savings accounts as well as personal and business loans.
With regards to card fraud in 2021, card-not-present (CNP) fraud with a debit card contributed to 55.3% of all card fraud. CNP fraud increased by 31.5% when compared to 2020 and remained a concern as transactions with online merchants increased.
Mewalall warned that online shopping could be unsafe because fake websites are being used to defraud you of your money, or to harvest credit card data.
He said that in certain instances scammers had delivered inferior products to create the impression that the website was legitimate. The report said that from 2020 to 2021, digital banking fraud incidents decreased by 18%.
The biggest decline in fraud incidents occurred in mobile banking. While the number of incidents declined, there was a 45% increase in the gross losses in digital banking in the reporting period.
In January, the ombudsman for banking services (OBS), Reana Steyn, warned consumers of the types of scams to look out for in 2022.
Steyn said OBS records for 2021 showed that they had received and investigated more than 2 880 banking fraud related cases.
This was a significant increase of 7.5% from the fraud cases investigated in 2020, she said, adding that most of these matters had been due to bank customers falling victim to internet banking fraud, credit card fraud, current account fraud, and ATM card swop scams.
She said such scams were avoidable and called on bank customers to be extra vigilant in 2022 to ensure that they did not suffer significant financial losses over scams that could have been avoided had someone taken the time to consider the possibility that they are being defrauded.