MTN customer loses R97000

D

dlk001

Executive Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
7,457
Reaction score
716
Location
Best Country in the world!
JOHANNESBURG – A weakness in MTN’s security has allowed fraudsters to plunder the bank account of one of its clients. In February this year, longstanding MTN client Eugene Malan lost R97 000 after an illegal SIM swap was performed on a cell number linked to his bank account. Malan is alarmed that he received so little protection from MTN. What’s more, despite the serious nature of his complaint, Malan says he has received no response from MTN for two months.

Malan’s problems began when he upgraded his MTN contract. The contract is in the name of Malan’s wife, Louise, but is linked to an account he has held at Absa for the past 27 years.

The upgrade took place at MTN’s Cape Road branch in Port Elizabeth at around 15h30 on Thursday February 7 this year. Malan provided the branch with the required “Rica” documents. As part of the upgrade he received a new SIM card. Malan left the branch with the latest iPhone.

But Malan did not enjoy his new phone for long. On the evening of the next day, Friday, February 8, the SIM card stopped working. Malan made some enquiries with MTN. He was told that the problem might be caused by an old generation SIM card which would not work with newer phones. However, after a Sunday-morning visit to an MTN store, Malan discovered the truth: a SIM swap had taken place on the account. This meant that somebody else had been issued with a new SIM card for Malan’s number.

The swap took place on the Friday evening, after hours, at 20h52, less than 30 hours after Malan upgraded his account. It was done at an MTN branch in Vereeniging, called Phigerton T/A Sel & Satellite.

An MTN shop consultant informed Malan that there had been several similar cases over the December holidays in which MTN clients had fallen victim to bank fraud. Worried, Malan immediately went to an Absa ATM, where he discovered that amounts totalling R97 000 had been raided from his bond, credit card and cheque accounts. The money was transferred to a Capitec account from where it was immediately dispersed to another 15 accounts and eventually withdrawn from ATMs.
Click to expand...

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-special-investigations/mtn-customer-loses-r97-000
 
Can the bank (ABSA or Capitec) not ascertain to which accounts the money was transferred ????
 
Just goes to prove that RICA and FICA are a waste of time.
Money was stolen and laundered via a bank very efficiently and I'll bet that the account holders will never be traceable.
 
Quite ridiculous. MTN should be liable cause they allowed a SIM swap without proper identification.

Although I find it hard to believe that after losing so much money, an attorney was not contacted...
 
Sorry to Eugene. "there had been several similar cases over the December holidays in which MTN clients had fallen victim to bank fraud." Sounds like an inside job.... Didn't something similar happen a few years / year ago at another Mobile operator, they discovered that it was an inside job were a few tech's were involved in copying and distributing SIM card info:confused:
 
More on the story

It seems the fraudsters who targeted Malan’s account were very sophisticated. Somehow they obtained his login details at Absa, most likely through a so-called phishing e-mail scam. Once they had that information, they needed to hijack his cell number, so that they could receive the one-off password necessary to transfer funds out of his account. This they achieved through the fraudulent SIM swap, done through the Vereeniging branch
Click to expand...
 
Xino_sam said:
Sorry to Eugene. "there had been several similar cases over the December holidays in which MTN clients had fallen victim to bank fraud." Sounds like an inside job.... Didn't something similar happen a few years / year ago at another Mobile operator, they discovered that it was an inside job were a few tech's were involved in copying and distributing SIM card info:confused:
Click to expand...

Yep. That involved Absa and Vodacom IIRC.

R97k is a lot of money. :(
 
Does ABSA send logon details via sms?? How they hell did they get access to his accounts?
 
sox63 said:
Does ABSA send logon details via sms?? How they hell did they get access to his accounts?
Click to expand...

To my experience, only detail sent via sms are verification codes when adding new beneficiaries and to process payment of beneficiaries.

If done via ABSA Internet banking, the fraudsters managed to obtain the person's Login 5 digit PIN as well as six characters of the Security SurePhrase
 
Last edited:
It seems the fraudsters who targeted Malan’s account were very sophisticated. Somehow they obtained his login details at Absa, most likely through a so-called phishing e-mail scam. Once they had that information, they needed to hijack his cell number, so that they could receive the one-off password necessary to transfer funds out of his account. This they achieved through the fraudulent SIM swap, done through the Vereeniging branch
Click to expand...

Sounds EXACTLY like the story Patrick posted in Off Topic about his female doctor friend.
 
Paul_S said:
Just goes to prove that RICA and FICA are a waste of time.
Money was stolen and laundered via a bank very efficiently and I'll bet that the account holders will never be traceable.
Click to expand...


If there was a sim swap done, would this not need to be authorised by an MTN employee. Surely there is an audit trail for something like this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X