Sharing a kind gesture on social media cost her being scammed for R4,000

Sharing a kind gesture on social media cost her being scammed for R4,000

A woman who mistakenly posted a selfie inside an e-hailing ride exposed her bank card in the picture and was a victim of fraud, losing R4,000 from her bank account.

Person holding brown credit card and cellphone
Person holding brown credit card and cellphone/Pexels

It's easy to get scammed these days. That can be attributed to everything being posted online and the ease of getting people's information. 

But as users of the world wide web, we need to be proactive about how we engage and use social media. 

It can be so enticing to show off our lives and share posts that make us feel good, but whilst we are feeling good, someone is out there prowling, waiting to pounce on your information. 

It is for this reason that authoritative sources have been warning people to be wary when online. 

In this case it was a young businesswoman who innocently posted a selfie. She wanted to share a kind deed and it turned into her losing R4,000. 

Chakra Hun on Twitter shared that she just lost R4k recently. The post was meant to to "show off the sweet gesture of the driver – offering the woman a popsicle – it dangerously also exposed the details on her bank card. In the pic, the FNB card number and CVC number – which are used to make online transactions – were clear for all to see.  And that’s exactly what fraudsters acted upon after the picture went viral." (The South African)

The above was her post after. The original post has been deleted for obvious reasons. 

Then she posted a screengrab of the purchases that the fraudsters were making. Check them out below. 

After some time, and lots of shade from tweeps, she shared that she managed to block her card and reverse the transactions. 

She went on to admit that she had made her mistake and has learnt from it. She didn't leave the conversation without sharing her disappointment with the bank, who did not even prompt the purchases with a one time pin. 

“Our banks should really look into how they negotiate deals with merchants…It’s our monies at stake. If I accidentally dropped that card or left it where ever by mistake, the same would’ve happened. I’m thinking of sticking to virtual cards” (The South African)

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