Customers are being cautioned of the ‘vishing’ scam which seems to be on the increase in recent weeks, according to Standard Bank.

‘Vishing’ is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam victims into surrendering private information that will be used to access their account to defraud them.

Increasing cases of vishing have been reported where fraudsters pretend to be Standard Bank officials and call customers to manipulate them into sharing their personal information such as One Time Password (OTP), ATM PIN, credit card number etc.

One of the tricks that scammers use is to ask customers to upgrade, verify or confirm their personal account information, failing which they will have their accounts suspended.

The fear of having their accounts suspended prompts customers to divulge confidential information over the phone, leading to fraudsters using this information for account takeover fraud schemes.

Standard Bank would like to assure clients and the general public that Standard Bank will never ask for their Internet Banking Login Credentials One Time Password (OTP), ATM PIN.

Customers are urged to be extra cautious when they receive such calls and they must immediately report these calls and suspected fraudulent activities by contacting the Standard Bank Customer Contact Centre on 0819286. It is important for clients to identify whether it is actually the bank they are speaking to.

Standard Bank also urged and encouraged young members of families to take an extra interest in the financial matters of their elderly family members and to protect them from scams such as vishing, phishing and others that may be used against unsuspecting scam victims.