Scammers targeting pensioners-Pack
Bank Windhoek has urged all customers, especially senior citizens, not to give anyone their PINs, as fraudsters are targeting clients who are anticipating payments.These sentiments were shared by Bank Windhoek’s Executive Officer of Marketing and Corporate Communications Jacquiline Pack, following a public outcry of clients falling prey to scammers and fraudsters.
Responding to a Market Watch enquiry, Pack noted that a customer’s PIN and One Time PIN (OTP) are the last and most powerful lines of defence between a customer and a fraudster. Nobody other than an account owner, is meant to know their PIN, and the OTP serves as a second layer of security.
“Should they receive calls from people claiming to be from Bank Windhoek and requesting their PIN urgently, they must end the call immediately and call our Customer Contact Centre at 061 299 1200,” Pack pointed out.
Social engineering is a sophisticated tool skilled scammers and fraudsters use to defraud customers of their money. Every day, fraudsters sharpen their skills and sources of information to defraud hardworking people of their money. For example, they infiltrate closed Facebook groups, posing as individuals who invest money at high returns, offering business opportunities and targeting vulnerable people. Another source of information for fraudsters is the telephone directory, freely available at post offices or online, where victims have their landline and mobile telephone numbers and physical addresses listed.
Trust
Pack further explained that social engineering does not always happen in just one phone call. Fraudsters often contact their intended victim over a few days, if not months, often posing as financial and investment brokers or bank employees, gaining the victim's trust a little bit every time. During one phone call, a bank account number may be shared. During another call a few days later, fraudsters could gain information about when money will next be deposited into the account. Once all the information for the scam is obtained, the fraudster creates a scenario whereby they contact the victim to trick them into disclosing their banking Personal Identity Number (PIN). The fraudsters send the victim an SMS of a fake transaction notification shortly before or during the call. This tactic prevents the victim from having time to verify the transaction's validity and creates panic. The fraudster pretends to be calling from the bank to verify the suspicious transaction and pressure the victim to divulge their PIN to prevent more money from disappearing from their account. Only trust the following Bank Windhoek SMS notification numbers. They are “29462” for transactions and “140295” for EasyWallets and IBank notifications. Be suspicious of other SMS notification numbers, also known as gateways, she [email protected]