No proof, but FNB blames client for her loss
In most cases of online banking fraud, stolen funds are transferred into beneficiary accounts held at banks other than the victim's bank
First National Bank (FNB) is holding a 70-year-old customer liable for the loss of more than R22,000 stolen from her bank accounts, apparently without proof that she compromised her banking credentials. Barbara Louw of Gordon's Bay insists she did not divulge her online banking credentials in a phishing attack and has asked the bank repeatedly to provide proof she did. In a letter from FNB's fraud department to Louw, the bank says that since logs on her profile show no changes were made to her online banking username and password, this "suggests" that the perpetrators were armed with her login credentials. "We can therefore only conclude that you knowingly or unknowingly disclosed these details to a third party," the bank says.Louw received a phishing e-mail the day she was defrauded. She denies opening it, let alone clicking on any embedded links and logging on to her banking profile. At the bank's request, she had her computer examined for viruses and malware and it was found t...
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