Beware of scammers this festive season

THE public needs to be wary of fraudsters using all sorts of tricks to gain access to their hard-earned money, says Standard Bank Namibia.

In a public notice issued yesterday, the blue bank said with the festive season in full swing and people enjoying their bonuses or 13th cheques, scammers are also creative and lure people into traps to dupe them out of their money.

Head of marketing Magreth Mengo said scammers use the excitement of the festive season and prey on people who withdraw large amounts of money from the banks, those who ask strangers to assist with ATM transactions and those who share confidential information, such as usernames, passwords, OTPs (One Time Pins), PINs and card security codes.

Standard Bank said consumers should refrain from carrying large amounts of money and to consider moving from cash-based transactions to electronic channels, such as internet banking, cell phone banking and point of sale devices.

Mengo said the public should avoid asking strangers for assistance at ATMs as this may result in criminals gaining access to their confidential information, such as PINs and OTPs, using these to withdraw money from their accounts.

She added that consumers should also be aware of vishing schemes, which is the act of impersonating a bank employee in an attempt to scam victims into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

With vishing, criminals try to access personal identifying information like names and identity numbers and in so doing gain access to bank accounts.

Mengo said fraudsters pretend to be bank officials and call customers to manipulate them into sharing their personal information such as One Time Password (OTP), ATM PIN, credit or debit card number, card expiry date, card verification value (CVV) number, etc.

Scammers ask customers to upgrade (such as activating SMS notifications or increasing loan limits), verify or confirm their personal account information, failing which they are made to believe that their accounts would be suspended.

Another fraud that is also prevalent is the phishing scam in which unsuspecting victims are asked to click on email links that look genuine but are fake, and which cause customers to divulge sensitive information such as bank account details.

Please beware.

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