Postbank, which is a subsidiary of the South African Post Office, may have been a victim of cybercrime fraud according to the report published by Amabhugane.
The report revealed that between 16 and 28 October 2021 the security breach took place and resulted in the theft of R89.46 million.
The incident is alleged to involve Postbank employees or contractors. The funds were fraudulently transferred to 279 South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) accounts and withdrawn at ATMs using cards issued by staff.
Acting CEO of Postbank Kevin Maartens stated that it is important to note that customers of the bank did not lose any money, but the money stolen came from Postbank.
According to Maartens, Postbank has an account management team that monitors balances and activity daily to check for any errors. During these checks, the team found an irregularly high balance in one of the accounts, they made inquiries and immediately reported the incident to the necessary departments.
Postbank’s acting CEO clarified that the incident did not take place due to a system failure, but that individuals used illegally authorized access to withdraw those funds.
Tracking down the individuals involved has been challenging as the perpetrators deleted all the audit trails and logs, which would have revealed who accessed the system and withdrew the funds.
Investigations are currently underway to find the criminals involved in the theft.
Maartens stated that as soon as the incident took place, Postbank reported it to the necessary authorities, including the Reserve Bank and insurer. A case was also opened with the Organized Crime Unit.
Despite the incident, Maartens stated that Post Bank is in a good financial position as they are making sufficient profits to sustain the organization.
