Forensic scientist David Klatzow, who has acted for victims of online banking fraud, says the banks "play fast and loose" with customer information and their forensic reports that he has seen do not stand up to scrutiny. Klatzow says that when customers have large sums of money lying in bank accounts that don't pay much in interest, it's not uncommon for these customers to receive unsolicited calls from agents of the bank offering to invest this money for a better return. Absa clients Johan and Maatje du Plessis, who lost about R880000 in a SIM-swap fraud, told Money that a few months before they were defrauded they were phoned by an investment consultant in the bank, who said he had "noticed a substantial amount" in their savings account and offered to help them invest it for a better return. Klatzow says he has encountered such an agent, who claimed to be working for a bank and even used the bank's letterheads, but turned out not to be a bank employee. Banks have a fiduciary duty ...
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