FNB refuses to reverse pending transaction to ******** account

I have contacted ***** department telephonically and informed them that a website for online purchases presented itself as a **** after: - I entered card details on merchant site to make a purchase - Checkout page presented field for card details as always. - I entered details and expected to be taken to 3D secure portal for OTP input. - But rather received an error message stating that the card could not be processed (did not receive OTP or any other notification) - Then tried a different card and received the same error message (no OTP received nor any other notification). - Became suspicious, checked my bank accounts and two different amounts had been 'reserved for purchase' from each account -upon further investigation i found the IP address of the merchant page is registered to a known ******* -merchant obviously unavailable through contact form on merchant site (only contact method available.

FNB ***** department informed me that I could fill out forms and they will investigate but it would take up to a month.

I mentioned that both transactions still showed as "pending" on my internet banking profile and asked whether this could be reversed or disputed now as the money would shortly be sent to a know ********. ***** department transferred me to "authorisations" who explained that they could reverse the transaction, but not on my request, only that of the merchant. Which I explained is a ********. They could not help.

So as per instruction of ***** department, we have to wait for the funds to clear into the bank account of the merchant

Could this be the only possible solution?

Surely there should be a more hands on approach to such crimes