Absa's handling of my Online banking ***** complaint

If I may let me first tell you briefly about myself. I am 57 years old and a disability pensioner. I was medically boarded from my job as a printer with Independent Newspapers about 10 years ago due to a very aggressive condition called psoriatic arthritis. I have had multiple operations on my hands, wrists and right knee. I also have metal pins in three of my fingers to stabilize the joints. I receive a very small pension from the South African Typographical Union of R6661.73 and a small amount from a Momentum policy totaling R2997.20. This amounts to a very small monthly income.

On the 31st July 2018 at about 11pm I received a sms from Absa on my cellphone stating that a new beneficiary had been added to my Absa banking profile. I tried to log onto my account using the official Absa cellphone banking app, an app I have used many many times before and that I believed was secure. My attempts to log in were unsuccessful.

I then logged on using my laptop to find that there had been 3 deductions from my account totaling R19,789.00 leaving me with a zero balance. This was a combination of my small income and monies my wife had added to my account to pay the monthly bills. What happened to OTP's and comfirming the transactions were legal before the money was transferred. I immediately phoned the help number on my Absa bank card, informed them as to what had happened and the account was frozen.

I went to Absa N1 City Goodwood, Cape Town the next day and was told I first had to go to the SAPS to report the *****. I went back to the Bothasig SAPS, reported the crime and got a case number. I went back to Absa N1 City and spent a long time filling in all the necessary paperwork that was to be forwarded to Absa's ***** department.

I was told it would take as much as 6 weeks for the matter to be resolved. After 6 weeks I phoned the bank consultant (his name was Alistair) and he very rudely said that he had told me it would take a minimum of 6 weeks.

So after two months I phoned the Absa ***** department and they said they had no record of my ***** case. I went back to the bank, told the consultant that the ***** department had not received the paperwork and when he checked he confirmed to me that the paperwork had not been sent or received.

So after waiting for two months not only had the paperwork not been received but absolutely nothing had been done. That was Friday and on Tuesday the following week I received a sms from the ***** department saying they had received the paperwork.

Not once since the ***** occurred on the 31st of July have I received any communication from Absa's customer service department to apologize for what had happened and to also keep me updated about the progress of the investigation. What a disgraceful way to treat someone that has been a loyal customer for 30 plus years. The whole handling of this matter has been underhanded, *********** and disrespectful. To add insult to injury I had to take a loan to pay our bills for that month, money that I now have to repay.

I then received an email from the Absa ***** Defence Execution department on the 5th November 2018 stating they had concluded their investigation. They stated that they had managed to recover R 7,910.17 which had been paid back into my account on the 2nd November 2018.

They also stated as follows “As you are a valued Absa customer we would like to make an offer of a goodwill payment for the amount of R 5,887.83 in full and final settlement of your loss. Should you accept the offer, we require you to keep the payment confidential. Payment will be effected within 5 working days after receiving the written acceptance of the offer from you". I checked my account and that amount had been deposited into my account. After getting legal advice I was strongly advised not to accept the offer. When I informed the bank I would not be accepting the offer the amount was removed from my account without any participation from me. Is it that easy for their staff to access peoples accounts and do as they please without notifying the customer?

Also what an unusual request from a major bank like Absa asking me to keep their decision and partial repayment a secret. What are they so concerned about if not their obvious lapses in online banking security which could easily affect how many millions of their other customers.

In effect I was expected to accept an amount of R5991 less than what was ****** from my account. I believe this is completely unacceptable considering I did nothing wrong except to try and logon to my account using Absa's official cell phone banking app. I also never received any sms's stating that these amounts had been deducted from my account. What happened to sending out OTP's to verify these transactions were legitimate? Could it possibly be an inside job? There have been occurrences before where a staff member had ****** money from clients accounts.

The stress from this whole very unpleasant affair has landed me in Panorama hospital twice. There is no doubt in my mind that this whole event was a direct result of the stress caused by this ongoing problem with Absa.

I will also never again use Absa's cell phone banking app because what assurance do I have that this will not happen again. As it is when receiving a “One Time Password” for a transaction I have to put in a secret pin to OK the transaction. What is Absa doing to make these cell phone transactions secure??? Evidently not much seeing how easily this money was ****** from my “secure account” managed by Absa. If this type of **** was known to Absa why did they not send out an email warning their customers?

That is the whole story as it happened and I believe I should be refunded the full amount that was ****** from my account as there was no wrongdoing on my part. I also believe that I deserve an explanation from Absa as to how this ***** occurred and how their online banking security was so easily bypassed.