Standard Bank - are they employing ****mers?

On Friday 13th December 2024, my 95 year old mother went to Standard Bank, Gateway, Durban and asked a teller to assist her in withdrawing R1,000.00. I had previously removed the *cash withdrawal feature* on her account due to a housekeeper withdrawing R3,000.00 some months prior. The teller requested her cell phone, we assume in order to remove the *no cash withdrawal feature*, and we also believe the teller swapped her sim card in her cell phone which allowed them access to account information via obtaining the OTPs. On visiting MTN, a completely different sim card was in her phone. Online banking was downloaded and a new credit card issued.

A person by the name of Lydia Samuels posing as a Standard Bank employee then made contact with my Mom stating that my brother requested she hand over all her jewellery for safe-keeping in the Standard Bank vault. On Saturday 14th December 2024, this person went to her flat and took all her jewellery. She was also trying to get my Mom to change the locks to her flat, telling my Mom that her family would hurt her! We have building CCTV video footage of this person meeting my Mom in the lobby and leaving, then walking in the direction of Gateway. That same afternoon, R37,000.00 was transferred from my Mom's current account via ATM into her credit card account. Various purchases and cash withdrawals were then made on the 14th, 15th and 16th for not only the R37,000.00 but also the amount available in her credit card.

We were all completely unaware of what had been going on.

On Tuesday 19th, my brother (who lives overseas) received a call from a Belinda Matthews claiming to be a Standard Bank employee who advised him that R37,000.00 had been transferred from my Mom's account and she advised him to transfer more money into the account, which he obviously did not do, this was when we started trying to find out what was going on.

The Saturday after this, my niece took my Mom to MTN to see what had gone on with her cell phone, they confirmed that my Mom's sim card was not in her phone and another sim card had been inserted. (All of this could only have started with the teller who then passed on or sold the information to Lydia Samuels/ Belinda Matthews). A ***** case was opened at the branch Case no *** and SAPS and an affidavit with a Section 205 demanding the footage of the ATM at which the teller assisted my Mom and at all the ATMs used to transfer the funds, make purchases and make cash withdrawals, totalling almost R50,000.00 (never mind the jewellery worth approx half a million).

We received the return of service on 12th Jan 2025. Standard Bank supp**** the ATM footage directly to the Prosecutor handling the case. On Tuesday 28th Jan 2025 at 8:52pm, we received an email from Kabelo in the ***** dept advising that the matter had been resolved after a meeting with my Mom (who is 95 years old and of diminished capacity; they did not bother to ask anyone else to be there to assist her which we find to be irregular at best; they have a duty of care). My mom was apparently shown a photo and they took a voice recording (because she cannot see to sign anything, here again diminished capacity) of her exonerating Standard Bank; we do not know what she was made to exonerate Standard Bank of, exactly. Hireshinie Chetty (team leader) and the bank manager Ursula also added that my Mom's family have access to her pin; this kind of deflection is most irregular and very concerning when all of these issues seem to have stemmed from the bank teller on Friday 13th Dec. I advised them both that I assist my Mom with her shopping every week, she hands me her card to tap/ insert and I put in the pin because she cannot see the pin pads in the shops. I then hand the card back to her immediately, the same applies when paying bills at the ATM. My brother asked them to advise which Power of Attorney the bank will accept so that he access to her account (which he pays money into for her) they advised us to email them which we did, and 5 days later no response despite them being fully aware of the urgency of this matter. A very disappointing attitude on the whole from Standard Bank indeed! Standard Bank had a major data leak in November 2024, check out News24, Tech Central etc for the articles and think twice before banking with them. https://techcentral.co.za/data-incident-standard-bank-probe/254743/ https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/data-breach-standard-bank-confirms-disciplinary-action-after-employee-copied-client-info-***7

Suggestion: Beef up security on your elderly loved ones' banking, they are oblivious to what these ********s can do or get POA and protect them, their money and assets.