MR
Mushfikah R

1 reviews | Active since Jun 2015

27 Sept 2018, 07:24

ARMED ******* - INSIDE JOB!!!

On the 8th September 2018, i went into Standard Bank Vangate Mall to increase my daily limit as i needed to withdraw a great amount of money. I was assisted by a lady at Teller 5 - My first concern was that i needed to speak loud to her as there's a glass window separating us and because i was withdrawing a big amount of money and the bank was very quiet at the time i was very cautious as to what i was saying and how loud as anyone in the line could have overheard our conversation and my request ( Please note that the inquiries section does not have glass windows and when having a conversation with the teller nobody can overhear anything which in my opinion is much safer and discreet ). The teller then referred me to withdraw half of the requested amount at the ATM in store and then come back to her for the other half. My Mother and I went to the ATM which is located in a room and then back to the teller however when coming back to the teller she was busy assisting someone else. I was taken aback by this as she was still in the process of assisting me and went along assisting someone else (It probably took me about 3-5 minutes to withdraw the money at the ATM so she could have waited and the bank was not busy as it was just after 9AM on Saturday morning). Whilst waiting for her to assist the lady i noticed that she had given my ID to the person she was assisting , i was even more taken aback by this as that is very unprofessional ( Breach of tellers procedures ) and even more reason for her to have waited for me to return for the rest of my money as she still had my ID in her possession. The lady left and she then continued assisting me, there were many red flags while she was helping me as she was all over the place and had no structure, she couldn't answer certain questions, she gave me her pen back instead of my ID, when using the note counter machine she inserted the money incorrectly as if she was nervous and asked me numerous times to swipe my card, again no structure. She lifted the note counter up to verify the amount of withdrawal and put the money in a money bag and handed it to me. My Mother then put the money in her handbag and my step dad then met up with us for "safety reasons". Once we left the bank the 3 of us decided to do some shopping. We were probably in the Mall for over an hour when i decided to book a ride home with Taxify with the groceries as my Mom and Stepdad still had to attend to other duties for the day . They walked out of Vangate Mall with me and waited with me for the driver to arrive. As approaching my street an Avanza was driving in front of us very slowly which made me feel uneasy however as we entered my street i felt less anxious as my brother and 7 friends were standing outside, the driver opened the boot and my brother and friends took out the groceries as i got out of the car the only thing left in the boot was the pizzas, as I bent to pick up the pizzas a guy appeared next to me and had a gun pointed to my head and immediately grabbed my bag, one of my brothers friends tried helping me however another guy appeared with a gun. The guy was choking me against the taxify vehicle and my brother’s dog then came out running and the guy shot the dog through the mouth and ran off. The Avanza was idling on the corner , the 2 guys ran and jumped in the car. As I turned around the taxify driver was also gone. After everything had happened I thought that I was being followed however my brother told me that the Avanza was circling in my street for 10 minutes before i arrived and that is why they were standing outside of my house as it was very dodge. The 2 guys were not there to rob the Taxify driver nor my brother and his friends, they specifically came to rob me. I remember the one guy telling me just hand over your bag. Luckily for me, my Mother had the money i withdrew with her and all i had in my bag was was a R700 in my purse, my ID and cell phone. After the police arrived at the scene a case was opened for attempted ****** and armed *******, i called the Standard Bank call centre to block both my cards and 2 Police detectives then took me back to Standard Bank Vangate Mall to do the necessary investigations. I spoke to the Manager who was there at the time "Lynn". The detectives mentioned to her that it sounds like an inside job as the Avanza was at my house before i got there and immediately went for my bag and there was no need for me to have given my address to the Teller verbally so nobody could have overheard. Her response was that no Tellers are allowed to have their cell phones with them and that "spotters" are seen in the bank every day and that she saw 2 "spotters" after she authorized my money and put them out. I am a Manager myself as well and my agents are not allowed to have their cell phones on them either however there are times that they are caught. After she put the spotters out of the bank why could she not make the effort to call me or any other customer as I could have turned back and deposited the money i withdrew yet she kept protecting the teller that assisted me and said that she would review footage and get back to us. Is Lynn aware that my address is on my ID and that could have been the tellers way of communicating or leaking information or that anyone can stand in the line and go to the teller without having a query or needing to deposit money and that information can be relayed verbally, things that the "cameras" do not pick up. If anything, the teller should never have assisted someone while assisting me and should never have made the mistake of giving my ID to someone else!! On top of everything else i waited up to 2 weeks to get my new cards without anyone sending me an SMS or giving me a phone call to notify me that my cards have arrived and i have to pay R130 for each card whereas Standard Bank knows that my cards were ******. Lynn also failed me as she did not offer me a temporary card or educate me on process. Armed ******ies has happened many times before and always Standard bank. I am wanting to change banks ASAP as Standard Bank is not safe at all. Also, do not let your customers withdraw money at the ATM because that is a sign to the “spotters” that big amounts of money is being withdrawn!!! I would like feedback to this ASAP as 2 weeks has gone by already and I urge anyone to review the footage of that day where the Teller gives my ID to someone else – this is disclosing personal information. My contact number is ********** and email address is **********

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Replies (2)
Standard Bank
Standard Bank's reply27 Sept 2018, 10:49
Official

Thank you for posting your comment.

We assure you that as an organization we are committed to providing the best possible service and assure you that this will be addressed as a matter of urgency.

We apologize for the inconvenience and undue frustration, this has caused.

We greatly appreciate your continued support

Kind regards

Complaint Resolution Centre
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Standard Bank
Standard Bank's reply01 Oct 2018, 11:14
Official

Dear Mushfikah

Thank you once again for posting your comments.

I refer to our email correspondence with each other and can confirm that this matter has been attended to.

Kind regards

Clint Petersen

Complaint Resolution Centre

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