South Africans losing billions to online scams each year could soon see relief, as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) moves to protect consumers from being swindled out of their hard-earned money.
The financial sector watchdog is planning to launch a National Anti-Scam Centre to fight digital scams that are raking in R2.4-billion in illicit gains for syndicates who prey on banking apps and online activity.
In 2024, digital banking fraud in South Africa affected around 97 000 customers who lost R1.6-billion. Last year, banks reported that fraud incidents had increased by 13% to 110 000, while potential losses rose 29% to R2.4-billion.
“Banking apps account for the majority of the cases, mostly because, as one would expect, people are using their banking apps. In 2024, 82% of these losses were via our apps, that rose to 89% in 2025 largely because this is how people bank.
“However, what we see is that internet-based scams accounted, in the previous year, for 8% of these cases, yet in 2025 that rose to 30%,” said South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) CEO, Andre Wentzel. According to him, the scammers have become sophisticated in their illicit work, with more professional messages, sophisticated invoices, and more convincing deepfakes.
More concerning, Wentzel said, was that scam kits were accessible on dark markets, meaning the criminals don’t need to have a lot of technical knowledge to scam customers. Criminals exploit the speed and complexity of modern banking systems to move stolen funds rapidly between accounts, Wetzel said, adding that money would move across four accounts and disappear within seconds.
Sindiswa Khahla-Khumalo, FSCA head of banks and payments provider supervision, told Sunday World that scams often originate within the banking ecosystem, where fraudsters are able to quickly transfer money across multiple institutions.
“Banks have to continuously look at their systems and their controls because what worked last year will not work this year, so they have to continuously refine that and demonstrate to us as the regulator that they are refining the system,” said Khahla-Khumalo.
She said the National Anti-Scam Centre would bring together banks, regulators and law enforcement into a single and coordinated hub.
Khahla-Khumalo explained that the goal is to improve communication and speed up response to fraudulent transactions before funds disappear.
The regulator started testing the concept last September, and proof of concept demonstrated that closer collaboration between institutions can significantly improve the chances of intercepting stolen money.
“We want it sooner, and the good thing is that all the stakeholders involved also want it sooner. We have to look at the issues of funding, but the good thing is that we have the
support.”
Gerhard van Deventer, FSCA head of enforcement also warned social media finfluencers against giving financial advice without being licensed by the regulator. He said they had noted the rise of are fraudulent investment schemes usually pushed on social media, masked as financial advice.
While it is acceptable to talk about cars and home investments, the line should be drawn when finfluencers attempt to give advice, particularly when they recommend a particular
product.
Van Deventer said this needed deep knowledge and understanding of such a product by a qualified financial expert.
Nicolette Mashile, Financial Fitness Bunnies founder and content creator, said content creators venturing into finance needed to understand the difference between education and advice.
She said brands also call on influencers to send out information about products, but allow them to give testimonies despite understanding that this is forbidden for an unlicensed finfluencer.
