*****

I am a 79 year old pensioner and a client of ABSA Bank. On 8/10/18 I received a phone call from a well spoken woman who presented herself to be from ABSA, advising me of a loyalty programme that ABSA were offering re each credit card transactions. She then asked me asked me to confirm thatthe information she had in her possession was correct regarding my ABSA credit card. She then accurately provided me with ALL the details of my ABSA credit card, including my address, the card and the CVC number as well as my ID. I merely said yes to her re these details. She then said I would be receiving a code on my phone confirming my acceptance of the loyalty points. A code came through from ABSA and I read it to her and she confirmed I would be receiving loyalty benefits. A short while later R7000 was deducted from my account and I realised that a ***** had been perpetrated . I immediately reported it ABSA, along with a claim for ****** funds. I was assured by the person at the ABSA call centre that my money would be refunded within 2 to 3 weeks and stopped my credit card I also again reported this to Rose at the ***** Dept who also told me that I could expect a refund with 2 - 3 weeks. I was also advised to go to my branch and they cut up my credit card after making a further report the following day 9th Oct. ABSA have now advised that they refuse to pay the claim as I provided the code mentioned above to a 3rd party. I believe that ABSA should be liable as they had stated I would receive a refund and they should be able to retrieve the funds from the merchant by reversing the transaction that they know to be **********. Additionally ABSA are knowingly providing a product to the general public (the credit card) that is extremely risky and customers are not informed of the massive risk they accept when they agree to a credit card that is so aggressively marketed to them. There is in effect only 1 safety measure that needs to be breached to commit a ***** - i.e. the code sent to the phone. If you compare this to your bank account, for example, in addition to the code sent from the phone, there is a pin number and a password. ABSA is acting recklessly and should warn the public of the dangers of accepting and using their product. I am a pensioner and I cannot afford this loss!