In this world of escalating fraud, I had an episode with FNB (First National Bank South Africa) yesterday (9/11/2024) that makes me believe much of this fraud you read about is an inside job in the bank.
I have been making loads of payments on my credit card and suddenly somebody inside the bank noticed.
I received an SMS that a new credit card was issued on my account. But in the usual chaos and irrationality of how the bank operates, I ignored this (it is very normal for them to issue cards pre-emptively and only notifying you after the effect).
So when I tried to make a payment last night, 3DSecure verification failed and I received a message to contact the bank. Again, this is nothing unusual:
3DSecurity has never worked for me. The FNB app is so bad that it never received confirmation of purchases and I have always had to wait for the in-app message to timeout and then they would send me an SMS (if I am lucky). This matter has been raised with them multiple times, but they never responded, solved or even escalated the issue.
When I contacted the bank as per their instruction (via the secure chat function in the application), things just didn't work and the card number I was trying to authorize the transaction on, was not recognised.
That is when I contacted them (again only possible with in-app chatting which is timeconsuming and ineffective).
They informed that they will transfer me to private banking and after 30 minutes, the verdict was my credit card was cancelled as lost. I made it clear that I never reported my card as lost.
The person that I was chatting to via the secure app (Vusi) then asked to call me.
In the call, he said he would have to escalate to find out why my card was cancelled. But he said, I should just authorise the newly issued card anyway (which I didn't have in my posession) and then cancel it as soon as I have authorized it.
Luckaly, I had a second card with me which I then activated.
I told the banker (Vusi) that I believe somebody in the bank was trying to access my funds and I would like to escalte the issue. I asked to be copied on the escalation via email
I think somebody in the bank noticed large amounts of money going through my account.
They then cancelled my card and issued a new card to themselves, hoping that I would activate that card without it being in my posession.
Maybe in colution with the support organisation, they tried to get me to activate that card, thereby creating a short timewindow of shopping where they can do a few large transactions, knowing that the account has a high credit limit.
Do I think everybody in this event (person cancelling my card, personal trying to convince me to activate a card I didn't have in my posession) chain was in on this? No, I think the plan required multiple independent and disconnected parties to all do something small, leading to a systemic failure for which each one of them can claim they knew nothign about.
Firstly, this only happened when I started putting large transactions through my credit card and only employees in the bank can see this.
All of this slighly dubious communication happened via the banks secure messaging app. The bank also called me. I have no record of either conversations.
The support agent never made any attempt to determine who cancelled my card.
The instruction to cancel my card could only have originated in the bank.
The helpful advice from their support guy, that I should activate a card I don't have in my posession, is fraudulent and/or incompetent.
When I asked to escalate this matter as possible fraud and I want to be copied on this escalation, it was agreed with me but I never received any email from the bank on this matter.
I directly known at least 2 people who have recently had their accounts emptied at FNB. I have tried to contact the bank about this, but each of my attempts were ignored. The bank, by design, has made it impossible for you to notify them of these events (this is why I am writing this in a blog) and they have never resolved any security queries I sent them.
The banks' systems are failing or non-operational, thereby creating an environment of chaos where customers just regard something not working or not working as planned, as business as usual. This environment thrives when it comes to criminal activity because customers cannot differentiate between faulty and fraudulent systems.
I have decided to terminate my relationship with FNB after many years of being happy there.