![Helen Zille Falls Prey To Elaborate Bank Scam: "I Feel So Stupid"-SurgeZirc SA](https://surgezirc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Zille.png)
Helen Zille, like many other unsuspecting South Africans, realised that she had lately been the victim of a bank fraud scam.
The former Democratic Alliance leader recounted her experience on Twitter.
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On Thursday, 15 June, Helen Zille tweeted: “I was scammed by fraudsters. I thought I was too savvy to be tricked like that, but I was!”.
Helen thanked her bank for supporting her, claiming that the incident occurred over the phone “from a 060 number.”
“A woman introduced herself as being from my bank’s anti-fraud department, and asked if I had authorised a debit order of R5 000 from my cheque account,” Zille said.
She added that her husband deals with a lot of the banking in their household, so she asked him about the R5 000 debit order.
She also expressed her disappointment at being deceived. She went on: “It was so convincing and ‘professional.’
“He said no, and also warned me to be careful as someone might be scamming me,” she said.
Zille was reassured by the response when she questioned how she could be sure the call was from her bank.
The scammer provided her name, ID number, bank account number, and marital name, all of which were correct. She stressed the importance of Zille acting quickly to rescind the transaction.
Zille was asked to follow a “series of steps” on her banking app and she obliged.
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The process, she said, resembled interactions she previously had with the bank.
She said: My bank has often advised me telephonically how to do things, and this sounded just the same.
“So, I followed her instructions. She was patient, but insistent, and clearly very familiar with the app,” Zille said.
She was subsequently notified that the debit order will be reversed within 24 hours and the money would be returned to her bank account. That looked exactly like the messages she typically receives from her bank.
“The final step was to give her a ‘code’ that was needed to confirm the reversal. I received a second SMS and she guided me through it, even mentioning where the ‘underscores’ were, and then just asked me to confirm the code (OTP) which I idiotically did,” Zille said.
“These fraudsters have got their pitch and their schtick. But I, with all my background knowledge and savvy, fell for it. I feel so stupid, but my Bank helped me out”.
The former DA leader was the second high-profile figure to come forward in as many weeks.
Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said she fell for a three-month WhatsApp scam in which she was robbed of thousands of rand.