Absa : inside job?

The theft of money of Absa clients has an interesting twist to it. The newspaper Rapport states in its front page story of 2nd October that in one case where a client suffered a R2 million loss, it seems that the theft could be traced back to an IP-address within Absa head office. See photo below.

Rapport states that notwithstanding this, Absa refused to take responsibility and made an offer “in goodwill” of 50% of the money to the client. A client of our firm was made the same “goodwill” offer by Absa. It is alleged that the whole matter is under investigation by the Hawks but it is not clear how their investigation is progressing. The question that arises is why the bank would be prepared to pay 50% of the loss if it is not involved. Our client was told that he is a “valued client”. If that is the reason, what is a valued client? How much money must you have to be a valued client?

In the meantime, we have secured our clients’ trust funds and caution all persons that may be vulnerable to such a fraud to do their banking business very carefully and be mindful of the fact that the bank is unlikely to assist victims of this crime wave.