New Fica request the real deal, confirms bank
Not a scam, says institution
But they said I must give them all my information or they will close my account!
Makhanda resident Doris Newby* (not her real name) recently turned 88.
An early adopter of technology, she’s used a personal desktop computer to keep in touch with friends and family for about 30 years, and to do her banking for about 20.
When she received an email requiring her to revert with detailed information about her occupation, bank accounts, address and identification number, she was suspicious.
She’d supplied the bank with her Fica compliance information years ago and now they wanted it again?
The Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 (Fica) was put in place to fight financial crime such as money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, terrorist financing activities and identity theft. It came into effect on July 1 2003, and requires financial institutions to verify the identity of clients.
The form that Newby was instructed to complete and return required her full names and surname, ID or passport number and mobile number, among other details.
“We are required by law to freeze accounts if certain documents and information are not held on record,” the email warned.
When they added a deadline, she panicked.
Panic is what scammers rely on to persuade their target to relinquish precisely that kind of information and so knowing this. Newby asked for Talk of the
Town to establish whether the bank’s message was for real.
If it was a scam, the newspaper should warn others.
Both the bank and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) responded to TotT’s questions.
FNB (that was the bank) not only responded; but also arranged for a consultant from the branch to meet with Newby personally, to talk her through the Fica email, explain why the request was legitimate and assist her with submitting the documents.
Despite Newby’s technical independence, she is wheelchair bound and hearing impaired – so the visit was valuable.
Below, we include TotT’s questions, and responses from both FNB and Sabric. We hope you find the information from both entities helpful.
FNB’s response: Question (TotT):
How should someone know whether they are dealing with a scam or the real thing, and what should they do when they receive an email they’re unsure of.
Response (Trish Ramdhani, head of fraud, FNB Card):
For certain correspondence that the bank requires from our clients like in this instance, Fica documents, the bank will advise on the action to be taken which could be through making use of our trusted self-service channel like the FNB App or the bank’s authorised channels such as the call centre and branch to submit information.
Customers can also liaise with the bank directly through any of our authorised channels.
In cases where customers are suspicious of emails or any forms of communication received from the bank, we encourage our customers to contact the bank directly for ease of mind.
Scammers often pretend to be someone you can trust, like a banking consultant, an insurance agent, or even a job provider. They may try to persuade you into revealing sensitive information like your bank card details, an OTP (OneTime PIN) that is used to approve a financial transaction or your banking app login credentials.
Never entertain these tricks as they are designed to defraud you. Always be vigilant and never click on links disclosing sensitive information as the bank will never request such information.
Safeguarding our customers’ personal and banking information remains our utmost priority.
South African Banking Risk Centre (Sabric) response: Question
(TotT): The email warning (“Unconfirmed information will result in restricted use of your FNB bank account, as you will be noncompliant with the requirements as per the Fica, Act 38 of 2001”) is similar to instructions scammers make to get people to reveal information that can compromise their accounts. How should someone know whether they are dealing with a scam or the real thing, and what should they do when they receive an email like this?
Response (Sabric CEO Nischal Mewalall):
It is not unusual for a bank to request that customers update or reconfirm their personal data, as this is part of their ongoing customer due diligence on their client base.
If a bank has your records, it will request that you reconfirm or edit your known information from time to time. However, if there are gaps in a bank s records, they may request you to submit completely new’ documentation.
It must be noted that a bank will never request that you send your information to a webbased email account, like Gmail, Hotmail and so on, nor to the private email account of one of its employees.
Banks will also never write to you from a web-based email account or any other type of private account.
If you are in doubt about the source of an email, check the header of the email to determine if it’s authentic, or merely designed to look authentic. Better still, call the bank’s contact centre to establish if the request is legitimate.