Warning: Avoid Absa if You Live Abroad – *********** ***** Handling and Poor Customer Service!

I wish I could give Absa 0 stars. As a South African citizen living in Norway, I’ve had an absolutely horrible experience with Absa’s ***** department, and I’m still waiting for resolution almost two months later.

Absa if you are reading this, this is where it gets complicated... I live in Norway (google maps will show you where it is), which means I am a South African citizen that lives in another country almost halfway across the planet.

Why do I say this you may ask? Because this concept seems to elude almost every Absa consultant I have had contact with regarding my case.

I find it shocking that Absa's specialist ***** investigators cannot seem to understand that there are other countries than South Africa, and that someone can live in a different country and still have a South African bank account and other assets in South Africa.

Now to what happened: Over the Christmas season a ***** decided to ***** R10,000 out of my Absa bank account using the "PayShap" mobile money transfer functionality that was just implemented by Absa. This person had gained my old phone number I had when I still lived in South Africa, I no longer have this number since the end of 2023 - I presume that the mobile number went back into circulation.

On the 2nd of January 2025 when I realized that there was money missing out of my account I immediately phoned Absa's ***** division and my online banking has been blocked and I have no overview of my account. I am not even sure which accounts they closed and I have a car loan to repay and my insurance on my vehicle has been voided due to Absa's slow and uninterested handling of this case.

The lack of movement in this case can also be contributed the seemingly *********** investigators at the ***** department that are unable to read any case notes before sending me emails asking me to visit my closest Absa branch - which is a spitting distance of only 14,000 kilometers from where I currently live or due to Absa's genius investigative procedure which requires me to provide an SAPS affidavit before it seems that they are able to do anything... However, as you can guess, there are no South African Police Offices in Norway - every time I contacted Absa or a 'specialist' contacted me they had trouble understanding this.

I have made several International phone calls to Absa's ***** department, every time having to explain the situation from the start, over and over again and even then Absa’s ***** investigation team has completely failed to understand that I don’t live in South Africa anymore. Every time I ask for a supervisor or anyone that will be able to assist me, I’m told they’re unavailable. The incompetence is mind-blowing. These phone calls have totaled up to just over R3,000 thus leaving me with not just the loss from the theft.

One of the most troubling aspects of this whole ordeal is the fact that this person were just able to use this "PayShap" functionality. It was just ready to go - there was no sign-up with two-factor-authentication and approval process, which is a gross breach in security in my opinion and at no point had I received any authentication requests for any of these transactions via the Absa app. The ***** withdrew money from my account, transferred it out of my account and even checked my balance sheet without any form of authentication required by merely having access to my old mobile number.

I would also like to highlight that before we moved to Norway in 2021 both me and my partner went to an Absa branch and informed them that we will be moving abroad and as such that only app and online banking be enabled - we were assured that this was noted and will not be an issue. When we came back for a visit in December of 2023 we went to an Absa branch again to inform Absa that our South African numbers will be cancelled and again reiterated that only app and online banking be enabled and again we were assured that this as done and noted. Yet somehow my old South African number remained linked to my account, opening the door for *****.

Luckily my partner's number was updated to an invalid number - we were told that they cannot support international numbers, odd as Barclays is an international company, and this lack of obvious foresight has now cost me dearly but I digress.

It's now February 2025, and I’ve received ZERO meaningful updates from Absa. They are now completely ignoring me. I’ve been loyal to them for years, but their lack of action has cost me dearly. If you plan to live abroad, DO NOT trust Absa with your money. They clearly don’t understand International banking although they claim to nor the importance of security. If your phone number gets recirculated or your number gets duplicated you are out of luck and out of money! Save yourself the trouble and look for a bank that actually cares about its customers, especially those living abroad. Absa’s incompetence has left me stranded, and I can’t stress enough how dangerous their poor security measures are.