The Namibia Economist

New fraud surfaces

First National Bank (FNB) has issued a warning about a new fraud that seems to be doing the rounds in Namibia.
Ingrid Veueza Katjiukua, forensic investigator at FNB advised: “People receive an email warning about an sms being sent similar to 550 or from a number similar to the one they get bank notifications from. The SMS will indicate a problem on the account and indicate that a ‘consultant’ will contact them.
When the ‘consultant’ contacts clients he or she will start confirming all details like the account number and then ask the client what kind of a phone he is using. The fraudsters will then contact the cell phone provider and perform a SIM Swap. The fraudsters will then be able to receive One Time Pins and or Random Verification Numbers from the client’s bank and have access to the bank accounts. By the time clients realise that the cell number is not working the money is out of their account.”
While FNB is unable to state with 100% certainty that this crime is in existence in Namibia already, the bank has said that they would rather be safe and warn the public.
Katjiukua added: “One can never be too careful. It is really sad that we have to nowadays be open-eyed and vigilant and almost mistrusting all the time to ensure that fraudsters do not take advantage of us. For this particular scam fraudsters need to do a transaction on a clients account first before needing the mobile PIN or MOPIN in the case of cell phone banking and in the case of online banking they would also need the username and password and if clients do not divulge these they should not be at risk. FNB and all other banks would never ask for sensitive information via e-mail or sms or telephone and never access a website via a link supplied in an e-mail.”
FNB has once again urged clients to rather phone the bank if they are unsure about a request or transaction to make sure they do not lose their hard-earned money.

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