Article provided by Nedbank
Protecting yourself against fraud doesn’t guarantee that you won’t become a victim of fraudulent activity or a scam. Fraudsters are continuously working to make their scams more believable, which makes it easier for them to catch you out. Knowing what to do should you become the victim of fraud or a scam could be the difference between losing your money for good or getting all or a portion of it back.
Here are the steps you need to follow should you become a victim of fraud.
Step 1: Contact your bank
The moment you realise that you have been scammed you need to contact your bank immediately. Don’t wait until you have left work or gotten home as every second counts. The sooner you let them know, the higher the chances are that your money can be saved. If you let your bank know in time, they might be able to block the illegal transactions before you lose your money.
Step 2: Contact the police
Open a case with the South African Police Service to get a case number or contact the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) helpline: +27(0)11 867 2234 to report the fraud.
Step 3: Contact a credit bureau
If your account has been compromised or if you suspect fraud on your account, you should contact a credit bureau to put a credit freeze on your name. This will prevent fraudsters from performing any further unauthorised transactions on your account or opening new lines of credit in your name.
Step 4: Check your accounts
Do a thorough check of your accounts to see if there are more than one fraudulent transaction on it. Make sure that all the transactions were authorised by you, and if not, report it to your bank.
Nedbank is committed to keeping our clients, employees, business and partners safe. We try to make our products and transactions as safe as possible, but when fraud creeps through we have various processes in place to ensure that you can be rest assured that we’ll help you should you become the victim of fraud.