Unattended ***** case

Dear Hellopeter This letter is written on behalf of my mother Nozipho Nomvete

My name is Nozipho Nomvete, a 68 year old pensioner that lives in Flagstaff, Eastern Cape.

I am a former teacher, having thought for 42 years, and 23 of which I was a school principal.

Ever since I started working in 1971 I have been banking with Standard Bank as a loyal and generally happy customer. This means I have been a client in this bank for well over 40 years. Everything has changed as of 9th of March 2020 after I learnt that I had be de*****ed of at least R23 000.

On 09/March /2020 I received an sms from the Standard Bank ***** line alerting me of multiple transactions that had occurred in my account outside my knowledge. At the point at which the sms came I was in a Sunday church service. Immediately I stepped out rushed to the bank in attempt to stop my cards but was unlucky because it was a Sunday and banks do not operate on the day in my given town.

As such I reverted to the ***** line to confirm that I had not made any transactions pointed out on the sms they had sent me. I advised for my cards to be blocked on the spot.

I would like to bring your attention to the following :

On the 07/03/ 2020 a withdrawal of R4000 was made at an FNB in Port St John's at 17:39. During this period I had just arrived at home from town where I made card-less deposit of R2000 in my savings account and a purchase at spar at 16:16 using the card that was allegedly used to withdraw the R4000. Mind you, driving between Flagstaff and Port St John's takes about 1 h 35mins because of the curvy road. It is nonetheless 85km in distance.

Another withdrawal of R4000 was done on the same day at 18:24 and another of R2000 at 19:10 on the same day and on the same ATM. On all these occasions no sms came through from my bank Standard Bank. In all these incidents I was fully unaware of these transactions and trust my bank to notify me of any irregular transactions considered to be inconsistent with my patterns i.e the sums in question and place of withdrawal.

On 08/03/2020 at 03:32 whilst as a senior citizen I was sleeping in the comfort of my home a withdrawal of R5000 was made and another of the same amount at 04:50 at an auto cash atm number ***4. The second last transaction was of R2092 at Tops circle and another of a sum I do not have at hand now happened at a Southern Wood PnP in Umtata.

I would like to mention that in all these instances I had not been receiving sms from my bank and also had not left my home town. Umtata is a further 300 kilometers from my home.

It is only on Sunday midday that I got an sms from the ***** line.

When I called the bank to state my case I was assisted and told it would be investigated. Subsequently I was told standard Bank could not help and could not be held reliable as my cards were used to withdraw. This was against my insistence in saying all my 4 cards were with me.

I need help. I no longer work and survive on my pension. This quagmire means I will be paying for an overdraft for the next 3 months and will not be able to take care of myself medically, nor buy food necessary for a person living with a chronic illness such as mine. Please assist.