hertenberger.co.za

Attempting to dupe Internet banking users out of their account numbers, PIN numbers and passwords seems to have become the latest hotbed of criminal activity. The attempt to catch unsuspecting FNB customers seemed amateurish – the fake website looked just that: fake, and unlikely to be taken seriously. The ABSA scam had me convinced after I had a look at the exact replica of the actual ABSA Internet banking site hosted at an obviously wrong location. In that case, the URL was the only giveaway.

Now, I’ve received a request to log on to a fake Nedbank Internet banking site. Scammers are taking advantage of the fact that Nedbank has indicated that some changes will be made to the official site and that additional services will be offered soon. The fake site lives at this URL: http://netbankonlinebanking.9hz.com and looks similar to the actual site.

Curiously, Nedbank refers to its own Internet banking service as Netbank, which I don’t fully understand. In any case, at first glance the fake website is quite convincing and mimics the style and layout of the actual site very well. All it takes is the entry of the Profile ID, PIN and password – don’t simply click on links and enter any details before you haven’t verified that you’re on the site you’re intending to be.

Call the institution if you suspect that something is awry and check the URL carefully before you do anything.  At the time of writing, Firefox doesn’t yet block the URL as one that is dubious.