Standard Bank client robbed of N$450 000 in SIM replacement fraud

A STANDARD bank client, John Sylvanus John, was robbed of N$450 090 on 6 February when the money was transferred from his business’ account while he was in South Africa for the weekend.

Narrating his ordeal to The Namibian, a traumatised John said that it all started on Friday, 5 February when he took a business trip to South Africa.

“I arrived in South Africa around 17h00 on Friday. Upon trying to call the driver to pick me up from the airport, I lost network,” he said, adding that he only managed to get hold of the driver by using a cellphone belonging to someone he travelled with.

When he arrived in Windhoek on Sunday, John realised that his phone was still not showing any network indication – something that led him to contact MTC at Grove Mall.

He said he was shocked to be informed by MTC that his SIM card was replaced by someone on Friday claiming they lost their phone that day. According to him, the suspected fraudster used a police declaration to prove to MTC at Wernhil that he is the owner of the SIM card.

After proving to the MTC employee at Grove Mall that it is actually his SIM card and that he never lost his phone, MTC provided John with a new SIM card.

“That afternoon I tried to log on to my online banking system to transact but my password was rejected,” he said.

After he realised what was going on, he called Standard Bank’s 24/7 online banking help centre.

According to him, the bank asked for his username and he was issued with a new password, which he used to log on.

“To my surprise, I realised that an amount of N$450 00 was transferred from my account,” he said.

Confused and shocked, John went to see his banker the following day who informed him that N$400 000 was transferred to a South African account, whereas N$50 000 was transferred to a Namibian account.

“The bank manager was helpful. He told me he was going to call South Africa and they confirmed to have blocked the money since it takes 3 days to clear,” he said, adding that he opened a case (CR271/02/2016) with the Windhoek police station.

By yesterday, John still had not gotten the N$400 000 back into his business account.

“My creditors are calling,” he said.

“I can confirm that no one should have had known my username,” he said, adding that he suspects foul play at both MTC and Standard Bank.

I am still in a state of shock. Even though I am recovering, I am still traumatised,” he said.

John further revealed his disappointment in banks, saying that it is supposed to be safe places for people’s money.

Contacted for comment, Standard Bank’s spokesperson Surihe Gaomas-Guchu declined to give details on the matter reasoning as a banking institution, the bank cannot comment on its customers’ transactions due to client confidentiality.

“We would also like to stress that we regularly inform our customers of the latest fraud trends such as SIM swaps, card cloning, phishing and email hacking, stressing the importance to keep their banking details confidential at all times and ensuring that their communication devices are up to date with the latest cyber security programmes in order to reduce the chance of falling victim to fraud,” she said.