1. Report the suspected fraud
As soon as you notice that something has been charged or money has been debited from your account, contact our Client Care Centre. If you let us know soon enough, we may be able to block the illegal transactions so that no money is lost. Remember, the sooner you let the relevant people know what is going on, the better your chances of getting your money back.
2. Contact the police
Open a case with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Reporting a crime is free of charge and a police officer will assist you with all the necessary paperwork. Once the case has been opened, it will be investigated by the police, who will arrest any suspects.
3. Check all your accounts
Go through your statements and check all your accounts to determine the number of illegal transactions performed. To make sure no unauthorised transactions are taking place, this is also good practise if you do a lot of online shopping.
4. Contact a credit bureau
If any of your accounts have been compromised, you should ask your bank to help you contact a credit bureau to put a credit freeze on your name. This will stop criminals from opening new lines of credit in your name. There are 4 main credit bureaus in South Africa: Experian, TransUnion, Compuscan and XDS.
What we do:
According to Gavin Wasserfall, manager of Fraud Monitoring at Capitec, there are 3 channels whereby card fraud can be detected or reported:
- The victim reports suspected fraud at the helpdesk inside a branch
- The victim contacts the Capitec Client Care Centre directly
- Capitec employees get in touch with you in the event that fraud monitoring services detect suspicious transactions on your account
The process
- Once a suspected case of fraud has been detected, your account will be stopped immediately to prevent further illegal transactions
- The incident will be logged, and a case file opened to investigate
- Once a case of fraud is confirmed, the case is sent through to Capitec’s Unauthorised Transaction Dispute (UTD) department for further investigation
- The UTD department will then contact you with questions about the incident
- An investigation by examining transactions on your account will be launched
- Once the investigation is concluded, you will be contacted about the outcome of your case
Remember to always protect your personal information, if you have been negligent with personal details such as your PIN or 3-digit CVV or CVC ( at the back of your card) your money might not be reimbursed. Also, note that all banks are responsible to cover losses from fraudulent transactions that occur after you have reported a case of fraud or a lost or stolen card.
Read more about credit card fraud here.
