STRANDED OVERSEAS, MY STD BANK ACCOUNT HACKED ON 8 JAN, MY SAVINGS GONE, AND NO ONE IN SA TAKES RESPONSABILITY.

I contact you as the last resource with this problem with serious *****/hacking my account which happened to me almost 1 month already and without a favourable outcome so far. I trust you will help me to close this stressing chapter for the good of Standard Bank good name. I contacted everyone in your division and in the ***** division and I barely got preformatted answers.

I am presently overseas in Argentina, visiting my family and, as I did every year before COVID, I came to visit my clients in South America (Chile, Peru, Uruguay etc) since the tourism business (I do own an incoming tour operator based in SA for bringing tourists from Latin America specifically) is picking up rapidly. I am a Private Banker for the last 5 years at least and a 'regular' client for the last 10 or more years with Standard Bank. I have been religiously paying R400 a month to get this service and benefits. Main reason for that is I travel a lot overseas. Moreover, I also have my bond and some small investments with the same bank since 2018.

The 7th of January 2023 my account was hacked while I am here.

On the 8th of Jan 2023, at 1 am I checked my Yahoo mails and I found 2 emails from Standard Bank each of which had 2 OTP numbers which were sent at 5.25 am (SA time) on the 7th of Jan, the OTPs were the ok from the bank to create 2 'beneficiaries'> Mr DIERES L. OTP # 91541, *** and the 2nd email Mr FENADES, LUIS OTP # 21434 ***. Then the excruciating ‘calvary’ started. (There are mails sent back and forth plus the watsups>they are available upon request) This is a draft of what happened>

- 8 January> - > I immediately sent emails to my account executives (Simcelile and Noluthando) and to support STD BANK reporting I discovered the hacking/*****. I also reforwarded the mails with the OTP numbers sent to me by STD BANK for the creation of the 2 'beneficiaries’. - > I have also, immediately taken the remaining money of my Money Market account and my Private Banking account and transfer it to both my Credit Card and Bond accounts to try to protect them there from the hackers. I have used my app, which was not blocked, to do so since the internet banking account was already blocked. - > I left a voice mail to Simcelile (my account executive) for her to action as soon as she could on the matter which she did, blocking all my accounts and c. card the 9th of Jan.

- 9 of January> She instructed me which were the steps for this process to start for the ***** department to take action> A* She told me that the ***** Dept will set up one day to talk to me in person (via phone) B*She instructed me that ***** Dept also wanted me to go to a Police Station and produce an affidavit. I asked if the Spanish version of the affidavit would be ok with my own translation and she said it was ok. I was told the whole process could take up to 10 business days.

-10 of January> I produced the affidavit (in Spanish since I am in Argentina, attached below the original and the translation), I translated it, and I sent it to STD BANK as instructed. I also asked when the phone call would be happening. I later, came to stay to my parents flat in the city centre since they do have a land line in order to facilitate STD BANK ***** dept to access me easily to have the required conversation.

-13 of January> Until that day, not even a 'read receipt' from Standard Bnk about the affidavit I had produced. Next thing I heard from them was a message telling me they tried to delivered my new Platinum Card but I wasn't available. (Of course, I wasn't available since I am overseas)

- from the 13th to the 19th of Jan: I asked a couple of times what was going on, when the phone call was going to happen or if there were any kind of news regarding this case.

- 19 of January> I received, out of the blue, an email saying that the investigation had concluded (?!) and they were able to refund me with less than the half of what it was ****** of my account but I STILL needed to fill up a standard affidavit produced by the bank, 11 days AFTER the incident, (attached below) which I did but I sent the immediate superior of my account executive at Standard Bank the following message> 1- I am overseas. I have no access to my accounts; I have some dollars in cash left but not enough to go and do what I came here for> visiting clients. I have clients in Chile, in Peru, in Uruguay in Paraguay. I cannot go as planned because I am stranded almost without money in Argentina where, FORTUNATELY this happened (my parents live here so I can stay with them). What would have happened if I was somewhere else? I cannot even buy a ticket back to South Africa now 2- I was told that the ***** department would call me to talk to me. I gave 3 options to do so (since my SA cell phone does not work here for obvious reasons). I gave the options to do a Skype call, a Wastsup call and ultimately came to the flat where my parents live which has a land line to have that call which, as per today, never happened or even scheduled to happen. 3- I was told to go to a local police station to do an Affidavit. I had to go to the closest city since I was staying in a rural area without a police station close by. I had to waste a whole afternoon dealing with local bureaucracy trying to explain them why they should do an affidavit for a crime which would not be dealt with in this country. After battling with them, they reluctantly accepted. I had to translate it. I spent, basically almost a whole day with the production of the affidavit (apart from spending in fees I had to pay to the police and the petrol). 4- I got the news today that the local affidavit was basically not necessary but I had to instead fill up a standard one produced by the bank. But I wonder why is even important now filling up this affidavit (your model) since the case is closed. 5-If your model of affidavit was the correct one to start the investigation... WHY it wasn't sent to me within the 24 hours after all this circus started instead of 21 days later? 6-Why I was told that I had to talk to the ***** department if, after all, without talking to anyone, the case was resolved anyway? 7-Why the case was resolved already and why there is that amount offered as the 45,577 which are basically the half of what it was ******? Based on which conclusions? Based on which explanations? Based on which calculations? Based on what did I do wrong for allowing this to happen?

23 of January> I received an email from Mrs Sibayoni , Head of Private Clients, Western Cape, saying I would receive an answer by the end of that same business day.

24 January> By the end of this business day, and WITHOUT receiving ANY kind of news about my case I, AGAIN, had to go and send a message to see what was going on. Reminding Mrs Sibanyoni that there were 48 hours down her OWN set up deadline and still without any news. 25 January> I receive, at last, an email from the ***** Department from a ***** Consultant named Gugu Radebe, basically repeating what I had been told before> That the bank would be able to offer me ZAR 45,377.93 saying, among other sweet things> ‘We want to thank you for your patience and affording us an opportunity to thoroughly investigate your incident. Our investigation did not reveal any bank liability, error or fault which led to the *****’. Standard Bank’s ***** Department has concluded the investigation and could not find any wrongdoing on the Bank’s part.’ I, of course, the same day, I responded to everybody copied in that mail that I DID NOT ACCEPT THE OUTCOME of the ‘ thorough investigation’ since, apart from all the above> 1-Among the ‘**********’ transactions INCLUDED in their document (see attached) was the one I had done transferring ZAR1,250 to my housemate MR DE WIDT which I do every single month since 2017 and I stated clearly that was the last one before the hacking. I did so by email and on the AFFIDAVIT provided on the 19th of Jan. Obviously no one did notice this leading me to wonder what is the quality of the so called ‘THOROUGH INVESTIGATION’. 2-Stating that there is NO wrongdoing from the bank’s part, are they implying that it was MY wrongdoing or negligence which facilitated the hacking? If so, why they do not prove it and why they are offering any compensation at all? 3-Again, based on WHICH formula or logic they have got to THAT amount of money they are offering? 4- The two accounts the hackers sent the money to are Standard Bank ones (As far as I deduce, because NOBODY explains). How come they opened those accounts? How did they cash almost 100K??? Did they 1,000 ATMs to do so? Why the bank is not providing ME with the total outcome of the investigation including THIS??? 5-So if the bank ‘recovered’ ZAR 45,577.93 from the hackers’ accounts or from wherever, Standard was not able to recover the rest? Is it MY fault again then? 6-As explained above, The 19th of January I received an email that the investigation had finished. I protested, and they dragged for some more days to after that, come up with the SAME OUTCOME, which leads me to think they DID NOT REVIEW anything, they just let me simmering for a couple of days until they sent back exactly the same thing. In all honesty, I wonder why the meaningless, preformatted, politically correct explanations sent by ***** DEPARTMENT which were basically saying NOTHING AT ALL except there was no fault from the bank??? 7- I asked by the ‘N’ time if I could go back and log into my home bank accounts to see what was going on with them, if there was enough money left to pay the automatic debit orders which come every month, if the income I have was duly deposited etc…..I did NOT and I do not want to go inside my accounts without the approval of Standard Bank while this dispute is going on, I don’t want to afterwards being told I shouldn’t have done this or that. In whichever case, NOBODY answered that question. Of course, once and once again, there was NO response from anyone at Standard Bank on my email. Nor my account executive who did not respond my watsup audios or messages (I realized now because of her ‘Out of Office reply’ she is on leave) Yesterday, 30th of January, I asked, AGAIN, SOMEONE to acknowledge the last email from Wednesday the 25th of January. 31st of January> I have gotten a response from Noluthando, the other Account Executive STILL not telling me if I can safely go, into my Home banking and cell phone app but instead, asking me for my address overseas to send the Credit Card (I bet I have to pay for the courier) and also asking me what is my phone number overseas (after ALL the times I had written and told them I have NO phone overseas but the SA phone which can be only reached while on a WI FI area!!!) and, the best of all: She is asking me for my email address.