ABSA's weak credit card ***** protection

I have had an appalling experience with ABSA, with regards to credit card *****.

Last night (8th of July) I received an SMS from ABSA, requesting a OTP for a transaction of 130GBP. At the time, I was lying in bed and I very clearly was not making this purchase, so I called ABSA's ***** line. With the help of the consultant on the phone, we cancel the card and open a ***** case. The consultant then asked me when last I had used my credit card and I told her that I last used it on the 7th of July. She then told me that there were three other transactions which were performed on the 8th of July, of the value of roughly R13k. I told her that I didn’t perform any of those transactions and she opened a ***** investigation case on those, for which I am very grateful.

However, I went to go check on my internet banking and saw that all three of these transactions were performed in the UK. Why did I not get notified of this from ABSA? Three transactions go off successfully in the UK and the only way I am notified of it is when the 4th transaction requires a OTP from me? Why do I bother with calling ABSA before I go overseas to notify them that I'll be using my card abroad when they clearly don't follow up or check? All of this could be avoided if ABSA just called me when the first transaction went off in the UK, because of it being suspicious behaviour.

I have spoken to friends and colleagues who bank through other banks and they all receive immediate requests of confirmation from their banks when they make even small purchases overseas – yet, in this case, ABSA happily allowed R13 500 to be used on my credit card account in the UK, when less than a day earlier it was used in Cape Town, South Africa. No calls notifying me of suspicious behaviour, just a request for a OTP on the fourth transaction.

This is utterly unacceptable. This lackluster protection against ***** is enough to drive me to another bank, as I find this situation appalling.