The South African Banking Risk and Information Centre (Sabric) has warned bank clients about a new refund scam.
Sabric is a Section 21 company set up to help the banking industry prevent and combat crime.
Gilbert Swats, the chief executive of Sabric, says the scam involves fraudsters depositing worthless cheques into the accounts of selected victims, who then receive a letter, apparently from Eskom or the South African Revenue Service (Sars), requesting a refund.
The letters, which bear what appear to be the official letterheads of Eskom or Sars, state that money has mistakenly been deposited into the client's account.
The letters request that the client refund the money immediately into a bank account for which the details are provided in the letters.
Clients who check their accounts to see if a deposit has been made, find that this is the case, and then refund the money, Swats says.
Only later, when the deposited cheque fails to clear and the refund has been made, is it obvious that fraud has been committed.
He says accountholders should be vigilant and exercise extreme caution when receiving requests to repay funds that were credited to their account in error, especially if the payment is said to have originated from a cheque deposit.
Sabric says accountholders can protect themselves by taking the following precautions:
- You should not refund money unless you have first verified with the bank that the deposit is indeed valid;
- You should wait for all cheque deposits to be cleared before making any payment; and
- If you are suspicious about a request from, for example, Eskom or Sars for a refund, you should contact them immediately to check if they have indeed deposited money into your account.