Banking and online shopping complaints on the rise in South Africa

The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud has observed a substantial increase in complaints relating to online shopping, City Press reports.

Complaints relating to online shopping made up approximately 6% of total complaints received by the ombud in March 2020, but over the 2020/21 financial year, the figure rose to 27%.

Ouma Ramaru, a spokesperson for the ombud, said that in 2020 complaints totalled 1,800.

The figure increased to 2,198 in 2021, and the ombud’s office has already received 500 complaints of the sort in 2022.

“Not all suppliers were equipped to meet the sharp demand for online goods,” City Press quoted Ramaru as saying.

She explained that almost half of the complaints received relate to goods failing or taking too long to be delivered.

Ramaru added that the majority of such complaints could be resolved by effective and timely communication from the suppliers of the goods.

It should be noted that the 2021 July riots caused major delivery delays in South Africa, and this likely contributed to the increase in complaints experienced in 2021.

Courier services were among the businesses impacted by the looting, which saw warehouses being damaged, equipment stripped and vandalised, and customers’ packages being stolen.

In the banking sector, bank ombudsman communications head Kwanda Vabaza highlighted the prevalence of phishing scams that compromise financial and personal information.

“There are too many people who’re still the prey of phishing. They either click on links and then enter their confidential information, or they give their login details, CVV number [the security numbers on the back of a bank card] or one-time password to fraudsters over the phone,” City Press quoted Vabaza as saying.

Phishing scams have become increasingly common, with a survey conducted by Liquid Intelligent Technologies revealing that 79% of the South African companies surveyed reported an increase in cyber security threats in 2021.

These companies’ most commonly experienced cybersecurity threats were email attacks, which included phishing attempts.

Email phishing attacks can take on various forms, from less-severe attempts to trick people into revealing personal information to distributing malware files that can take over a user’s computer or an entire network.

Vabaza said that customers could not claim a refund from their bank in most phishing cases.

However, if SIM swap fraud allowed criminals to acquire a customer’s one-time password, the ombudsman tells banks to repay victims.

Vabaza added another frequent complaint relates to those that take out loans without fully understanding the fees they will be charged.

“We often see that people who aren’t native English speakers don’t understand contracts. It’s your right to insist that the contract be made available in your language or summarised in the language of your choice,” he said.

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