Rustenburg – Hard on the heels of a cybercrime syndicate,
the Police are investigating a R42 million e-fraud case that
has left the Rustenburg Community shell-shocked… How
[they] gained access to the computer of a Rustenburg Post
Office employee is still unclear…
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has launched a
high-level probe in a bid to bring to book the culprit(s), who
committed the crime over New Years.
The theft occurred between 1-3 January 2012; and was
allegedly committed by a syndicate with knowledge of the
post office's information technology (IT) system.
SAPS media spokesperson in the North West – Brigadier
Thulani Ngubane – told Platinum Weekly that law enforcement
agents are hot on the trail of the suspect(s).
“It is still very early and we are not therefore in a position
to reveal just how far we have reached with the investigation.
We will do everything within our power to make the
responsible people accountable for what they have done,”
said Brigadier Ngubane.
Department of state security spokesman Brian Dube, added,
“When a government institution is compromised, the NIA
will be involved and will offer its assistance.” When asked
how, the answer was very unclear... The Postbank currently
holds over R4-billion in deposits, and
processes millions of rands in social grants
throughout the year.
While Johan Kruger of Postbank was not immediately
available to comment on the supposed
“hacking”, an employee from the bank’s
Pretoria offices told the Platinum Weekly that
customers’ accounts would not be affected by
the theft.
|
|
“We are in the process of upgrading our security
systems to make sure that this does not
happen again. We should be able to detect
and monitor some of the suspicious activities
that might occur on our accounts,” added the
employee. Some…
According to police details, the syndicate reportedly
opened several Postbank accounts
across the country late last year, and during
New Years gained access to a Rustenburg
Post Office employee's computer… This is
when the unthinkable occurred… A staggering
R42m was stolen!
Apparently, the suspect(s) then made deposits
to other accounts. Over a period of the next
three days, ATMs in Gauteng, Free State and
KwaZulu-Natal were used to withdraw cash
from these accounts.
A security expert – who requested to remain
anonymous – says the incident is a clear indication
of the ineffectiveness of Postbank’s
internal systems.
However, the following questions were raised
and left unanswered. Why Rustenburg Post
Office? Why only R42m? What stopped them
from stealing more? What kind of a security
breach is this? And then very important: Was
a Rustenburg employee involved in this… or
not?
This incident comes three years after Postbank
spent over R15 million to upgrade its
fraud-detection service. |
|
Your latest Rustenburg, Brits, Mooinooi, Marikana, Hartebeespoortdam, Northam, Zeerust, Mmabatho, Zeerust, Swartruggens, Koster, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp News |
 |
