Two men, aged 34 and 36, are set to appear before the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for stealing R6-million from one of the country’s big banks, Capitec.
The suspects are charged with theft following their arrest on Wednesday.
The arrests came after a sophisticated fraud involving a system glitch at Capitec Bank. The glitch allowed one of the suspects to siphon over R6-million.
Unprecedented system glitches
According to authorities, between November 2023 and January 2024, Capitec Bank encountered an unprecedented number of system malfunctions.
During this period, one of the suspects, a client of the bank, allegedly exploited the glitch to unlawfully transfer more than R6-million into his Capitec business account and credit card.
The suspect is said to have then dispersed the funds across multiple bank accounts and purchased two vehicles.
Despite efforts by the bank to recover the funds, only R2.4-million has been retrieved. This left Capitec with a loss exceeding R4-million. The case was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit. An in-depth investigation by the unit led to the execution of arrest warrants for the two suspects on Wednesday.
The pair will make their first court appearance on Thursday, where they will face charges related to the theft. Authorities have not disclosed further details about the second suspect’s involvement. But the case has raised concerns about vulnerabilities in banking systems.
Bank hit by more fraud crimes
Meanwhile, in April, police arrested five suspects connected to a ring that reportedly used forged documents to apply for credit cards and loans against Capitec Bank.
The suspects were accused of fraud, corruption, forgery, uttering, and money laundering. Patricia Nqobile Nkosi, 25, William Vezi Jiyane, 46, Sifiso Shekwa, 29, Lucky Mkhabela, 35, and Ellias Mbalekwa Jiyane, 57.
They showed up on Friday in the magistrate’s court in Emalahleni. The defendants reportedly targeted Capitec Bank in the syndicate between August 2021 and August 2023.
They allegedly hired workers from Capitec to help process loan applications by presenting forged documentation. The defendants would allegedly divide the money among themselves after the loans were authorised.
Capitec Bank sustained a financial loss of over R2-million as a result, said Monica Nyuswa, a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority.
