South Africans considering booking flights this December must be cautious of potential scams.
This warning comes from Discovery Bank, which, in a message to its customers using its banking app, indicated that flight scams are on the rise as the holiday season draws closer.
These scams usually take the form of fraudsters posting fake airline ads on social media and tricking people into contacting fake travel agents via WhatsApp.
Victims who fall for this are then directed to download what seems to be an airline app, but which is actually a program that gives the fraudsters access to their devices.
“Once access is gained, the fraudster instructs the victim to log in to their banking app. The screen then goes blank and unauthorised transactions are made,” the bank explained.
To avoid falling prey to this scam, Discovery Bank has advised South Africans to book flights only through official websites or trusted agencies rather than acting on too-good-to-be-true social media ads that may come across.
Additionally, never allow remote access, disable your phone’s security settings, or access banking apps while screen sharing.
Discovery Bank also outlined that standard safety measures, such as never sharing banking details, PINs, or OTPs, should be maintained.
Finally, the bank advised South Africans to verify the identities of anyone they speak to and be cognizant of pressure strategies.
This warning came following a marked increase in flight fraud across South Africa, with the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) reporting a considerable rise in complaints.
The data collected by the NFO showed a 73% increase in cases between January and May 2024 and the same period this year, going from 1,436 to 2,483.
This is also the first time digital fraud complaints have exceeded ATM fraud complaints, with 3,000 additional incidents reported during the same period.
Many of South Africa’s major banks, including Absa, Capitec, Discovery Bank, Nedbank, and Standard Bank, have raised flags over a sharp increase in banking-app-related scams.
The danger of digital fraud
The rapid rise of mobile banking services has resulted in an equivalent increase in fraud strategies targeting users.
“We’re also seeing a significant increase in investment-and-false goods scams linked to mobile payments that surface on social media platforms,” said Ulrich Janse van Rensburg, Absa’s chief fraud strategy and analytics officer.
He also noted that mobile app fraud is rooted in customers being given instructions by criminals pretending to be bank officials to transfer funds to an account or approve a transaction.
Capitec shared this stance, noting an increase in coercion being used, involving cases where victims are pressured to initiate payments under false pretences.
“This type of scam is leading to significant financial losses,” Capitec said.
According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), these scams cost South Africans R2.72 billion in 2024, and digital banking accounted for the majority at R1.89 billion.
This is because digital fraud frequency increased by 86% last year, with banking apps being the largest contributor at 65% of all digital banking fraud cases.
In response to this growing issue, regulators have taken action.
Unathi Kamlana, Commissioner of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), recently noted that to combat the growing issue of digital fraud, regulators, banks, telecommunications providers, law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders need a sophisticated, coordinated, and collaborative response.
Additionally, Kamlana indicated that digitisation has empowered criminals as much as regular people.
“Criminals operate as organised networks, sharing data, tools, and tactics across platforms, sectors, and borders. Increasingly, they are deploying artificial intelligence to stay one step ahead of traditional controls,” he said.
The only way to effectively combat this, according to Kamlana, is to work collaboratively between different industries.
In line with this thinking, the FCSA launched its Digital Banking Fraud Project and is working with the banking industry for fraud risk mapping, real-time monitoring, consumer education, and the disruption of criminal money flows.
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