Standard Bank App INSECURE and poor customer service

Standard Bank App INSECURE and poor customer service

1. I was pickpocketed at Cresta Mall on 5th Dec 2019 and my phone was ****** around 13h00-14h00.

2. At about 4pm, I realised my phone was ****** and I went back to the mall to get footage, hoping it was captured on camera. I did a sim-swap at Telkom and I obtained a new phone as I was due for an upgrade.

3. On Friday morning 6th Dec 2019, I was contacted by Standard Bank who told me that Capitec Bank had contacted them (Standard Bank) regarding some suspicious payments from my account into a Capitec Bank account. I informed Standard Bank that those transactions were NOT mine and that they should be stopped. This meant that Standard Bank was aware of what was happening, yet the transactions were still processed. The Standard Bank consultant told me that he will block the account and that I should open up a case at SAPS and then send the case number and an affidavit to them. The value of the transactions was R120,000-00. I obtained the affidavit and submitted it to Standard Bank. 3. Since 6th Dec, I followed up via email and telephonically with Standard Bank but I was told that it was being investigated. 4. As a R120,000-00 is a lot of money to me, I went into the branch on 20th Dec 2019 to ask them to explain to me how the money was ******. They undertook to review the case. I heard nothing until 31st Dec 2019. 5. On the 2nd Jan 2020, they responded with an “Outcome Letter” to say that they could not recover any money and provided a “Summary of Events” of how the ***** happened. 6. However, the “Outcome Letter” did not explain HOW my money was ****** and the investigation appeared flawed. The “Outcome Letter” mentioned that my credentials must have been compromised by phishing or some other method (page 2, paragraph 2)...this doesn't make any sense as my phone was ****** about 13h00 on the 5th Dec and its impossible that somebody could have phished my credentials and then actively targeted me to pickpocket my phone. Furthermore, the explanation in the “Outcome Letter” (under "Summary of Events", bullet point 6) says that the ********* accessed my profile using my username and password. How could this be possible? I had definitely not shared my credentials with anyone nor are my credentials are not stored on my phone and my phone was ******...so the questions remained HOW DID THE ********* GET INTO MY APP? 7. I then wrote a letter of complaint to Standard Bank’s Executive Complaints department requesting a face-to-face meeting. Eventually, due to the slow response, I went personally to Standard Bank on 9th Jan and spoke to Mirriam from the Complaints Department. She undertook to arrange a meeting with the Investigations Team to enable them to explain how the ***** happened. 9. At the face-to-face meeting with the Investigations Team, the Investigations Team told me that their Standard Bank app was accessed with my correct login details and that these login details were obtained from somewhere in the “Settings” section of the phone and that it was a phone issue and not an app issue. This doesn’t make sense as on a phone, all the passwords are protected by “Knox” and if it so easy for “Knox” to be breached, it would be public knowledge. I have also contacted Samsung in this regard and they have assured me that “Knox” is secure. 10. Most importantly, during our face-to-face meeting, Standard Bank showed us the activity log of my account. On the activity log, it can be clearly seen that the ********* attempted to log into the profile via a PC five (5) times, with the rules identifying this as a 100 Risk Score and denying access...Why wasn't the account/profile blocked after three attempts? Why was I not contacted? 11. Currently, it seems that I have had to pay for breaches in Standard Bank’s security system. The R120,000-00 is a lot of money that I had to work very hard for…so it seems that both Standard Bank and the ********* is trying to cheat me.