KwaZulu-Natal advocates became targets of cybercrime at the weekend with as many as 17 reporting that they had fallen victim to versions of SIM swap and phishing scams.
Most were MTN clients and said they were at a loss as to how criminals obtained personal information, especially since the fraudsters appeared to know that they were advocates. In one instance they used a “nickname” and had access to contact lists on their cellphones.
In a circular to members, Society of Advocates secretary Kate Peniston said several cases of phishing, where the target was contacted by a fraudster posing as a legitimate institution to obtain their personal data, had been reported.
In one scam, the advocates were contacted by a “Thabo” from MTN on an 083 number.
One advocate who did not wish to be named told Business Day: “I was driving when my phone rang. He addressed me as ‘advocate’. He told me that I was about to fall victim to a SIMswap fraud. He asked if I knew a certain individual and if I had given that person permission for the SIM swap.
“When I responded in the negative, he then said he was sending me a one time pin to stop the fraud. I stupidly gave it to him.
“Immediately my phone started pinging with payments for multiple data bundles.”
While he put a stop to these payments, when he got to work on Monday morning, several of his colleagues said they too had received a call from “Thabo”. Some fell for the scam.
In a second circular, Peniston advised that at least six junior members of the bar had reported that their cellphones had also been compromised at the weekend.
They had all received WhatsApp messages from colleagues on their phone contact lists saying: “I have lost my bank card. Please can you pay R2,000 into an eWallet and I’ll repay you tomorrow.”
One victim, who also asked that his name be withheld, said his phone stopped working on Friday afternoon and he went to an MTN branch where a SIM swap was done.
But the new card was never activated because, he later discovered, the fraudster who had taken control of his “old” SIM card, had rejected the swap.
In the meantime, the fraudster contacted every single person on his contact list asking for the R2,000. Two of his friends actually paid the money.
“In one of the messages, he used my nickname, which means he must have also had access to my e-mail because I only use it there,” he said.
The fraudster also withdrew about R14,000 from his bank account using his internet banking, even though he has a R1,000 a day withdrawal limit.
Society of Advocates chair Griffiths Madonsela told Business Day: “Whether these events amount to ‘targeting’ advocates in the main, or is prevalent across all members of our society is, to me, uncertain.”
MTN SA executive for corporate affairs Jacqui O’Sullivan said this type of fraud was a “consistent threat” to all network operators because criminals were finding new ways to beat prevention systems.
“We have communicated to our customers that we will not contact customers from our call centre to block the processing of a SIM swap request.
“We’ve also urged all our customers not to respond to unsolicited calls and requests for their security details.”