“My bank account emptied in seconds”
A Swakopmund resident claims to have lost his entire salary from his FNB Gold Account last week, after his account was hacked and “emptied within seconds”. The forensic department of the bank is still investigating how the culprits, who allegedly withdrew the money in France, managed to gain access to the secure information.
According to the resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, the theft took place as he was doing shopping in a supermarket in the coastal town on Wednesday evening – shortly after his salary was deposited into his account. “I purchased groceries and swiped my card. After swiping I immediately started receiving SMS’s from the bank”, he explained to namib times.
The SMS’s from the bank showed various amounts of money being withdrawn and even though he has a daily limit on the account the SMS’s did not stop. “One second I received an SMS indicating N$5 000 being withdrawn, then N$7 000, seconds later another one showed N$2 000 and then N$9 000. It was various random amounts being withdrawn continuously. This continued until the last SMS said there are insufficient funds”, he said. “I panicked.”
Initially the resident phoned the local FNB branch but there was no answer. He finally reached the FNB bank in South Africa where his card was immediately blocked. But it was too late. His account was emptied.
The next day he went to the local FNB branch where he was informed that the money was withdrawn somewhere in France. “I was told that the culprits must have been in possession of my bank card which was impossible”, he continued. A bank official informed him that the case will now be investigated. It can take between four and six weeks.
“I was also told that this is not an isolated case”. Apparently, the culprits are specifically targeting Gold and Platinum FNB clients. “I am still stumped how this was possible, especially since I have a daily withdrawal limit”, the victim concluded.
The bank could also not yet give him any indication as to how the culprits managed to hack his account.
In the meantime, the client had to apply for an overdraft facility to ensure his debit orders are honoured.
“We are still working with our forensics department (regarding the above)”, said Hilma Petrus, Internal Communications Specialist at FNB Namibia Holdings, to namib times. She did not elaborate.
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