Source: Neesa Moodley, Daily Maverick, 19 April 2021, photo credit: CPO Magazine
Information leaks by shady hackers, increased use of online banking and a rise in e-commerce activity could lead to a rise in SIM-swap fraud – although South African banks say they’ve already recognised the threat.
A user from a low-level hacking forum published the personal data of hundreds of millions of Facebook users online earlier this month.
This massive information leak could lead to an increase in SIM-swap fraud, says Pieter de Swardt, country manager for global fintech company Entersekt.
“One of the spin-off effects of Covid-19 has been the increased use of digital platforms, not just banking but also e-commerce. Entersekt encourages clients, not just banks but also commercial websites, to move away from the use of SMS one-time pins [OTPs] as a means of verifying a transaction. An out-of-band solution is preferable because you don’t have to type any information back into the channel… Typically, an OTP has to be typed back into the site you are transacting on or, if you opt to do an instant EFT, you have to type in your online banking details,” he says.
Banks seem to have recognised this threat and are moving away from the use of one-time pins. Both Absa and Standard Bank downplayed the threat of SIM-swap fraud, with Absa saying that bank fraud relating to SIM swap fraud in the past financial year was less than 3%. Carolina Reddy, head of fraud risk management at Standard Bank, said less than 1% of fraud losses in the past year were related to SIM-swap fraud.
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The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
