They cleaned out my bank account

IF Vodacom's SIM-swap procedures were properly vetted, cellphone and Internet banking fraud would be minimised.

So says Charmaine Modjadji of Orlando West in Soweto, who has fallen victim to cellphone banking fraud.

She claims to have never activated the service, but an amount of R109,000 was transferred from her banking account to people she does not know, and to a hotel in Cape Town she had no business paying.

As a result, she could not pay her employees because her account had been wiped clean.

Modjadji says even though First National Bank has acknowledged that her bank account was fraudulently accessed, it refunded her only a portion of the fraudulently withdrawn amount.

She is still battling to recover the balance, and does not understand why the bank is referring her to the banking ombudsman.

Modjadji's funds had apparently been withdrawn from her account and channelled to another FNB client.

"Surely they must have a way of recovering my money from their clients, otherwise these fraudulent activities will never stop," said Modjadji.

She noted something was amiss when she did not receive calls from business clients.

Modjadji runs Kohae Lodge at Klipspruit that caters for events such as lunches, dinners and breakfasts.

"It is very odd for my phone to be quiet even for a minute, and it was even worse considering that it was the busiest time of the year," Modjadji said.

She then called Vodacom to inquire about her phone having gone silent. But there was a nasty surprise when the company told her her phone had been disconnected and that her calls were deviated with the installation of a new SIM card.

"I had not asked for one, and would not have, since I did not lose my SIM card. In fact, I still have my original SIM card," Modjadji said.

At this stage she was not aware that her bank account had also been hacked into. Her bank statement shows that R135,000 had been transferred to the account of a certain Nathaniel C Kruger.

The bank could only refund her R52,000 they claim they could recover from him.

" I am sure he is part of this fraud. How else can he explain such a windfall of money from someone he does not know.

"Even bonuses show where they come from?" Modjadji said.

She said R36,000 was transferred to a Cape Town hotel for accommodation she never secured. An additional R32,383 was deposited into an account of a certain M Lihoja she does not know.

"All these amounts, added, exceed my balance and I wonder why FNB authorised them," she said.

The amount fraudulently transferred from her account via cellphone banking totals R173,387.

Her bank statement shows that she had transferred R135,000 from her investment account.

Her account has been frozen as well as her cellphone number.

Though Vodacom had promised to activate her account within a few hours after she activated a new SIM card, they had not done so. Modjadji said Vodacom should be held accountable, because they do not have a proper vetting system in place.

"I could have been another fraudster asking for a SIM swap, because all they do is to ask for my identity number and that's all," she said.

Modjadji said the Dube branch manager told her that FNB could not tell into which bank the amount of R57,000 was deposited.

"They could only see the amounts deposited into Nathaniel Kruger's account because he was an FNB client," said Modjadji.

"How can they stop this crime if their bank manager cannot trace clients' monies after they left the customers' account?" asked Modjadji.

FNB has promised to comment once their investigations were concluded.