****** & HACKED – VERY UNHAPPY ABOUT THE STANCE TAKEN & SERVICE RECEIVED BY STANDARD BANK’S ***** TEAM

I was ****** & HACKED – VERY UNHAPPY ABOUT THE STANCE TAKEN & SERVICE RECEIVED BY STANDARD BANK’S ***** TEAM.

I was ****** in Kenilworth, Cape Town mid-morning on Wednesday 20th November 2024 in front of my 9 year old daughter. My cellphone was ****** by the ******s. Immediately after the mugging incident, I drove to the nearest Police Station to report the incident. A case was opened by SAPS, and I filed a statement.

Soon after the incident, one of my colleagues, on my request, contacted MTN to blacklist my ****** phone and related phone number.

On Friday 22nd November, on accessing my Internet Banking via my laptop, I noticed that large transactions had gone off my Standard Bank credit facilities, including from my home loan and credit facility with the Bank, and from my family’s current accounts, amounting to losses in the region of R300,000. I immediately emailed Standard Bank to alert them to these *****ulent transactions and to ask them to freeze my accounts.

IMPORTANT FACT: I never contacted Standard Bank on the same day of the mugging incident because a) I had no phone, and b) I could not reasonably have pre-empted that my bank accounts would get ********ly accessed from my phone and my accounts hacked.

Due to the fact that I had no phone, I never saw any notifications from my bank alerting me to the *****ulent transactions in real time on the day of the mugging incident. Ordinarily, I get an SMS on my phone [emphasis added] when transactions occur on my accounts. However, I had no phone. The ******s had somehow accessed my Standard Bank accounts via my phone, bypassed Standard Bank’s security features and cleaned out my Credit Card, Current Accounts, Children Savings Accounts and Home Loan access funds. How did they do this is the question that I posed to the Bank?

Fast forward to current date: Almost 5 months have gone by, and I have repeatedly contacted the Standard Bank ***** department, as well as my private banker, to get status updates on my case with the Bank re the reported mugging and hacking incident allegedly under investigation.

On the 20th March 2025, I received a Text message from Standard Bank stating “Your case is Concluded. Thank you for your patience.” I then made telephonic contact with the Bank to get more information on the unexplained finding and was advised in an accusatory manner that I am liable for the ****** funds from my credit facilities. What makes matters worse is that the Bank is profiting from my traumatic incident by charging me interest on those losses over the last 4- 5 months.

To date I have not received any comprehensive written reasons for the Bank’s finding from the ***** Department. I have at all material times been made to feel by my Bank (to whom I have banked with for over 20 years) and private bankers that I am to blame and am liable for all the associated losses resulting from being ****** and hacked. The Bank allegedly cannot understand:

1. how my ****** phone was hacked, and banking accessed, and 2. why I didn’t report the *****ulent transactions to the Bank on the day of the mugging.

Re 1. I am not a ******** nor an expert in online cyber crime so I cannot answer this question. Surely this is for the Standard Bank ***** ‘experts’ to investigate. How was the third party that ****** me able to gain access to my accounts via my Banking App? How could they have bypassed Standard Bank’s security features on the banking app?

Re 2. I HAD NO PHONE! Refer to above facts.

Moral of the story: DO NOT GET ****** NOR HACKED. It appears that Standard Bank will not come to your rescue when your banking app is hacked and you, the victim, will be the one to suffer the financial and non-patrimonial losses that result therefrom.

It appears that my only options are to pursue a formal complaint with the banking service Ombudsman route or to pursue legal action in an attempt to recover my losses. The whole situation has been very unsettling and traumatic for me and my family.