You're more likely to be a bank scam victim if you're over 40

Forty may be the new 30, but the statistics suggest that being over 40 makes you far more likely to fall victim to banking scams than younger consumers.

That is what emerged in the Ombudsman for Banking Services of South Africa's recently released 2016 annual report.

The over-40s of all races accounted for 66% of complaints to that office last year, followed by the 31-40 age group at 22% and the under-31s at just 12%.

"The statistics suggest that younger people are more au fait with technology and less prone to falling victim to scams," said ombudsman Clive Pillay. "And the most vulnerable group appears to be those older than 40."

story_article_left1

The ombud's office handled almost 20% more internet banking complaints last year than in 2015, most relating to cellphone banking, followed by electronic banking.

And only 204 of those cases — 22% —  were resolved in favour of the consumer.

Overall, less than a quarter — 24% — of the 5033 consumer complaints resolved by the banking ombud last year were settled in favour of consumers.

Contributing to that fairly low consumer-win rate is that more than half of the cases considered by the ombud's office were fraud-related.

In most of those cases, Pillay said, the complainant was the victim of a scam and there was "no maladministration" on the part of the bank.

But while many internet banking victims — the vast majority of whom are older consumers — admit to unwittingly responding to phishing (fake) e-mails and giving fraudsters their banking details and passwords, some insist they did no such thing.

Forty-something Fameeda Hoosen, a preschool teacher in KwaDukuza on KwaZulu-Natal's North Coast, had her FNB bank account "raided" to the tune of R8,000 by fraudsters on January 31 this year.

Hoosen says she is "extremely vigilant" about cyber security and denies ever clicking on a link in a phishing e-mail, but FNB concluded that she "knowingly or unknowingly disclosed these details to a third party".

Vodacom sent Hoosen an SMS at 9.43pm on the night of the fraud, saying a request for a replacement sim had been made on her line and if she suspected fraud she should call the network's customer care line immediately.

She didn't respond as she was asleep, so the fraudulent "sim swap" went ahead, with the result that the one-time-password sent by Vodacom was received not by Hoosen but by the fraudsters instead.

story_article_right2

But the network denies that it was the cause of Hoosen's loss.

Durban personal assistant Sue Gardner had almost R20,000 transferred out of her Absa account about three years ago.

Like Hoosen, Gardner was adamant she had not responded to a phishing e-mail and the bank's subsequent forensic investigation confirmed this.

As a result, the bank made her a settlement offer on condition that she kept it confidential.

But Gardner was never told how the fraud was committed, so, terrified of a repeat, she hasn't used internet banking since.

"I've gone back to standing in queues to pay my utility bills and clothing accounts," she said. "The peace of mind is worth the extra time and effort."

ATMs retained the top spot in the complainants category list, with 1,268 cases handled last year.

The ombud's complaints team found in favour of the banks in an overwhelming 84% of ATM cases, meaning the consumers who complained were deemed to have been at fault — mostly for sharing their pins or accepting help at an ATM.

To lodge a complaint against your bank, go to the ombudsman's site, obssa.co.za