Staff Writer

Standard Bank Namibia has issued a notice warning the public against sharing account details. According to the bank, scammers are falsely using the name of Standard Bank employees to lure people into sharing account information.

“Do not share your bank account information, even if they say they are from the bank,” said Standard Bank’s head of marketing Magreth Mengo.

Mengo urged the public to never share any account details via email, or over the phone with anyone, adding that the bank will never ask for its clients’ pin or login credentials.

“Even if they claim to be from the bank and use the name of one of our employees who you know and trust. We will never ask you for your pin or login credentials, we do not need it. Immediately call our Customer Contact Centre and report these scammers,” she said.

She said scammers may try to convince one that they are truly from the bank by presenting you with some of the customer’s actual information.

This information she said, is sourced in various ways such as asocial networking sites, like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

“Card information from restaurants, service stations, online stores, personal information (such as an address, P.O Box, contact details) provided during registration at a contest, sports event, or other function and leaked information through hacks that are available for sale on the dark web.”

Mengo said the public should always treat these kinds of calls or communication as suspicious.

“Even if they say your account has been compromised and they are trying to protect your account, this is their method of instilling panic and getting you to act irrationally,” she explains.

Furthermore, she also said there is a voice note doing the rounds on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, claiming that Standard Bank accounts in Swakopmund have been compromised and that people’s accounts have been cleared and money has been withdrawn.

“This is false information. Take note that if the information does not come directly from the bank, it is not true.”

She concluded that Standard Bank will at all times inform clients if their accounts have been compromised.

“Please refrain from further distributing such false information and messages. Make sure you are subscribed to all our official social media platforms to have immediate access to any information we share.

Together we can stop scammers from defrauding us and our peers.”