South Africa records 600% increase of fraud cases in four years

South Africa recorded a 600% increase in fraud cases between 2018 and 2022.

According to statistics from the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS), there was a 600% increase in incidents of fraud reported by their members in 2022 when in comparison with 2018.

In order to deal with this rising drawback of fraud, the SAFPS has launched a fraud prevention protocol known as Yima, which seeks to coach the broader public who could also be inclined to fraudsters.

According to Nazia Karrim, head of product growth on the SAFPS, Yima will set up a proactive strategy to combating fraud and scams. 

“In response to the growing need for a proactive approach to fraud prevention, the SAFPS is developing a product called Yima. Once launched, the product’s website will be a one-stop-shop for South Africans to report scams, secure their identity, and scan any website for vulnerabilities related to scams. They will also be able to educate themselves on identifying a scam,” says Karrim in an announcement. “These tools will enable consumers to surf the net more confidently and go about their daily lives aware and informed. These are just some exciting elements South Africans can access through the site.” 

The important aspect of the web site would be the capacity to report a rip-off incident or any suspicious exercise to the SAFPS. This suspicious exercise features a pretend or suspect-looking on-line procuring web site/portal and situations the place the person has acquired phoney banking data. 

These studies will likely be collated and shared with legislation enforcement for investigation. Users will even be supplied with a scams hotline to report a fraud incident on to their banks, retailers or insurance coverage firms through a single quantity. Users will solely want to recollect one quantity slightly than seek for every establishment’s contact numbers on-line.

Additionally, Yima customers could have entry to the buyer services provided by the SAFPS.

On high of the meteoric rise in fraud cases, in a report final month, INTERPOL additionally gave South Africa the undesirable title of the cybercrime hub of Africa, with the nation recording over 230 million incidents.