Deeply traumatic and intelligent internal Capitec ****

I would like to bring to the attention of the media that on 10 May 2023 I was the victim of a deeply traumatic and intelligent internal Capitec ****. My account was hacked and the perpetrators withdraw over R33 000.00 (Thirty Three Thousand Rand) from my account held with Capitec Bank. The crime was reported to the Sandton SAPS and a docket opened under case number 237/5/2023.

A summary of events pertaining to this *****ulent crime is described in detail, as below: On the 10 on May at 16h49 I got a call from a certain “Sandra” using the following number ***, saying they were from Capitec Head Office ***** division, and that there was a Takealot amount of R24 000.00 taking off my Capitec account. They then proceed to give me my ID number, physical address, account number, my pin number to this account, and what my last purchase had been today, which they asked me to verify, but I said no, and I told them, that I don’t trust the call and that I would call them back. Before I ended the call, they said I must please check my messages, if I don’t trust them, which I did, and there was a message saying R24000.00 Takealot order has been processed. They asked if I did get the message, which at that time I did confirm. They said they can help me to suspend my account in the meantime. I asked how it was possible for that amount to go off my account as I only had a balance of R13 900.00, but they said it is possible as it was an online purchase. I then decided that they should suspend the account, as I would rather be safe than sorry, and told them I would go into the bank on Thursday. Sandra then said, she can help, and I don’t need to go into the bank. She then gave me all her details to call her back. She gave me her number with an identity code number, she said this code will verify that she is an agent with Capitec Head Office ***** division. I then ended the call, and went onto the banking app immediately, and the account had been suspended to my surprise, so decided to call Sandra back to see how she could assist. I called them back at 17h08 on the same number that called me at 16h49, and it was answered by a lady saying Capitec Head Office ***** division, I asked for Sandra, the lady who answered the call, asked me for Sandra’s identity code number which I gave them, and they transferred me to her. Sandra, then told me she can help reverse the amount, and that I must log in to my account via the banking app. We were on the phone for nearly 30 minutes, as she helped me reduce the daily limits on my account, confirmed debit orders that had come off the account, gave me information on my debit orders that still needed to be processed, confirm if I know the person (Lucky) trying to take funds out my account, helped me set up the internet banking. I also got a message to advice on new remote pin from a number *** which was 695320, but I did not use as I was already in the banking app. As we were doing all the above together, I was getting verification messages in the banking app to accept or decline, by saying yes or no. It did not look out of place as this is normally what happens when in the banking app and changing settings. As the last verification came through to accept, R33 000.00 was taken off my account, Sandra told me not to panic, as she is here to help me, and they were in the process of reversing all the debit orders, and that it is normal, so I must stay on the line until everything is processed correctly. After about 5 minutes I asked what was taking so long, and she said it is because I am in the banking app and the system can’t process the funds into my account so I must log off, which I did, but then the line went dead, I tried calling back several times, but the calls went unanswered. When the calls went unanswered, I looked up the call centre numbers and got hold of the ***** department, and explained what has happened, they then told me that they funds had been ****** and that I must report this to the police within 48 hours. They gave me the following ref number: ***. They also said it will take up to 21 working days to investigate and then they would let me know the outcome. I reported the ***** to the police on the 11th of May, and I got a case number which I sent to Capitec. Case number is CAS 237/5/2023. What I could not understand at the time was how there was R33 000.00 in my account as I knew I only had R13 900.00 but they had disputed a number of debit orders for April 2023 to get the funds back in my account. The debit order disputed was debit orders that go off every month, and should not have been disputed Capitec has failed to take any accountability, nor refund me the full sum of monies ******. This is despite my urgent and desperate escalation of the issues at hand to Capitec Bank, no such action has been taken to refund my monies by the bank. I find this grossly negligent, despicable and deeply inexcusable.

Capitec Bank Limited holds various fiduciary responsibilities including duties of care towards its clients as well as a duty of care towards members of the public, especially insofar as the management of accounts is concerned. This is particularly crucial given the scourge of *****, *******ion, crime, financially prohibited practices and organised crime in South Africa. The aforementioned duties include, but are not limited to: A common law duty to safeguard the true owners of bank accounts and members of the public who may suffer damages as a result of the *****ulent and/or ******* misuse of bank accounts and payment systems; and A statutory duty to ensure that bank accounts are not misused by ********s and that banks may prevent, and avoid being privy to, the commission of ******** activity, ***** and other organised crime; and A statutory duty to protect the safety and soundness of banks by ensuring that they inter alia know precisely who the bank’s respective clients are, their sources of funds, the general usage of such funds and the transiting through the various accounts of their clients. During the commission of the crimes, Capitec Bank Limited failed to exercise its duty of care towards me as their client in that they failed, alternatively neglected, alternatively omitted to prevent the theft of thousands of Rands from being withdrawn from my bank account.

Furthermore, Capitec Bank Limited failed, alternatively neglected, alternatively omitted to have the necessary safeguards in place to pick up the ******* and suspicious activity of the ********s through their internal security controls and suspicious activity detection methods. Failure by Capitec Bank Limited to exercise such duty of care and failure to pay attention to detect suspicious activity has resulted in me suffering great financial loss. Capitec Bank Limited has failed to comply with the provisions contained in the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 as they have failed to safeguard against ******** activity from taking place. As such, I have no option but to take the following action: I am going to report and escalate the incident to the Ombudsman for Banking Services; and I am escalating the incident to social media and public interest platforms. I reiterate that we have found Capitec Bank Limited to have acted in a grossly unprofessional and ******** manner, and that the bank and its employees have contributed to the worsening of an already traumatic and deeply unsettling experience for me.I do not believe that it is fair, nor that it can be accepted, that I should be plunged into a serious financial predicament due to the sheer negligence, incompetence and lack of concern shown by Capitec Bank Limited. Yours faithfully, Ms Deborah McPhail