“Having been stupid enough to get scammed by fraudsters, I want to use my experience to help others avoid being caught too.”
This was the message from DA federal chairperson Helen Zille in a series of tweets on Friday in which she explained how a “call from the bank” turned out to be an elaborate con — pointed out during the conversation by her husband.
She said she answered a call from a 060 number which in retrospect should have been the first alarm.
“A woman introduced herself as being from my bank's anti-fraud department and asked if I had authorised a debit order of R5,000 from my cheque account. As my husband does a lot of my banking and management of our household affairs, I asked her to hold while I enquired from him whether he had taken out a debit order for recurring expenditure. He said no, and also warned me to be careful as someone might be scamming me,” she said.
Zille asked the “consultant” for her name and how she could ascertain she was in fact from the bank.
“She gave me her name, my ID and bank account number, and my married name which were all correct. She said it was important for me to reverse the debit order soonest. She then asked me to follow a series of steps on my banking app, which I stupidly did. I am relatively new to this miracle called a banking app, and the many things it can do. My bank has often advised me telephonically how to do things, and this sounded just the same.”
Unsuspecting, Zille followed the woman's instructions.
“She was patient but insistent, and clearly very familiar with the app. I even got an SMS, as I do from my bank, saying the debit order would be reversed within 24 hours and the money returned to my account.”
That convinced her the transaction was genuine. The final step was to give her a “code” required to confirm the reversal.
“I received a second SMS and she guided me through it, even mentioning where the 'underscores' were, and then just asked me to confirm the code (OTP) which I idiotically did. At this stage, my husband was instructing me to end the call as he was sure I was being scammed. The woman had put me on hold saying she would confirm the reversal and as I waited the usual canned music was playing — it was that authentic,” she said.
Zille called her bank using another phone and was advised it was a scam.
“The fraudster then breezily came back on the line on my phone to apologise for keeping me waiting, she was just ensuring the reversal went through. Then I let rip.”
“I won't repeat here what I said, but I let her know in no uncertain terms what criminals like her are doing to our country, and our economy. She hung up. My husband then also had a few choice things to say to me, about being so stupid,” she tweeted.
Zille believed she was too savvy to get caught.
“Now I know. The fraudsters know your details. They are familiar with the bank's modus operandi. They pick transactions that you are not familiar with to catch you. And they combine just the right balance of politeness and urgency to make you co-operate with them.”
She advised people to take care, and “not be as stupid as me”.
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'Then I let rip': The moment Helen Zille realised she was being scammed
'My husband was instructing me to end the call ...'
“Having been stupid enough to get scammed by fraudsters, I want to use my experience to help others avoid being caught too.”
This was the message from DA federal chairperson Helen Zille in a series of tweets on Friday in which she explained how a “call from the bank” turned out to be an elaborate con — pointed out during the conversation by her husband.
She said she answered a call from a 060 number which in retrospect should have been the first alarm.
“A woman introduced herself as being from my bank's anti-fraud department and asked if I had authorised a debit order of R5,000 from my cheque account. As my husband does a lot of my banking and management of our household affairs, I asked her to hold while I enquired from him whether he had taken out a debit order for recurring expenditure. He said no, and also warned me to be careful as someone might be scamming me,” she said.
Zille asked the “consultant” for her name and how she could ascertain she was in fact from the bank.
“She gave me her name, my ID and bank account number, and my married name which were all correct. She said it was important for me to reverse the debit order soonest. She then asked me to follow a series of steps on my banking app, which I stupidly did. I am relatively new to this miracle called a banking app, and the many things it can do. My bank has often advised me telephonically how to do things, and this sounded just the same.”
Unsuspecting, Zille followed the woman's instructions.
“She was patient but insistent, and clearly very familiar with the app. I even got an SMS, as I do from my bank, saying the debit order would be reversed within 24 hours and the money returned to my account.”
That convinced her the transaction was genuine. The final step was to give her a “code” required to confirm the reversal.
“I received a second SMS and she guided me through it, even mentioning where the 'underscores' were, and then just asked me to confirm the code (OTP) which I idiotically did. At this stage, my husband was instructing me to end the call as he was sure I was being scammed. The woman had put me on hold saying she would confirm the reversal and as I waited the usual canned music was playing — it was that authentic,” she said.
Zille called her bank using another phone and was advised it was a scam.
“The fraudster then breezily came back on the line on my phone to apologise for keeping me waiting, she was just ensuring the reversal went through. Then I let rip.”
“I won't repeat here what I said, but I let her know in no uncertain terms what criminals like her are doing to our country, and our economy. She hung up. My husband then also had a few choice things to say to me, about being so stupid,” she tweeted.
Zille believed she was too savvy to get caught.
“Now I know. The fraudsters know your details. They are familiar with the bank's modus operandi. They pick transactions that you are not familiar with to catch you. And they combine just the right balance of politeness and urgency to make you co-operate with them.”
She advised people to take care, and “not be as stupid as me”.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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