A pensioner who was scammed by fraudsters who obtained control over her bank account urgently turned to court for the banks to hold the money on ice.
The fraudsters paid an amount of R960960 – in 23 different transactions on the same day – into bank accounts of a part-time cryptocurrency trader at Capitec and Absa.
Dirkie Wessels, 67, received the money as part of an inheritance from farmland which was sold. But unbeknown to her, she fell victim to cyber scammers.
The two banks placed a precautionary hold on the accounts of Rowen Petrus, a part time cryptocurrency trader on the Binance platform.
Petrus, however, maintained in this application in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that he is an innocent party in all of this.
The banks meanwhile told Wessels they could not place a hold on Petrus’ bank accounts indefinitely without a court order.
Wessels wanted the money to be frozen pending the finalisation of another application in which she intended to ask for an order that Petrus pay back her money which was deposited into his account.
Wessels told the court that last year she received an inheritance from the proceeds of a sale of farmland which she invested in a six-month fixed account with Capitec Bank.
In February this year she received an SMS from an unknown person, stating: “Payment notification: Transaction debited R11 700 on Takealot.”
She was provided with a reference number and a number to call if this transaction was not hers. She was alarmed by the message as she had not ordered anything from Takealot.
Wessels called the number in the SMS. The call was answered by a “Tessa Smit” speaking with an Indian accent.
She advised that she was working with Capitec’s Fraud Department and that her investment account was hacked and they suspect it was an inside job.
Wessels was instructed to go to a Capitec branch and to transfer her funds from her fixed account to a savings account. She was assured by the fraudster that she was being helped to secure her funds from people trying to transact on her account and misappropriating her invested funds.
Wessels was told to advise “Tessa Smit” via WhatsApp once the transaction was done for her to reverse the transactions on her account.
Wessels followed the instructions and transferred R1 026 590 into her savings account. She then advised “Tessa” that it had been done.
“Tessa” explained the process of rectifying and reversing the fraud. To do so the applicant was asked to permit the installation of an app called “AnyDesk” on her cellphone. The fraudsters then took control of her phone and she was unable to perform any functions on the device. Soon after she saw R3 500 being deposited into an Absa account in the name of Tarryn Hill.
The applicant asked “Tessa” who this person was, and she said it is the account the hacker had paid her money into. She contended she was busy reversing the transaction in order that it be returned to her account.
The court said a cryptocurrency trader in the position of Petrus should foresee the risk of money laundering on a platform like Binance and for that reason verify the identity of his clients.
The court turned down the urgent application but Wessels can now pursue her claim to get her money back.
Cape Times