Esmere Weideman, CEO of Media24 was caught in a SIM swop scam over the weekend, in which she was robbed of R360,000.

Unbeknownst to Weideman, R1,5 million was transferred from her home loan account to her cheque account by criminals who had gained access to her information via a SIM swop. Before her bank, ABSA could freeze the account, the fraudsters had already transferred the R360,000 to an account in the name of “Badiba Madiba.”

Weideman told the press yesterday that on Sunday her SIM card was not working:

Yesterday (Monday) I asked my assistant to contact MTN, but according to MTN there was nothing wrong. Yesterday afternoon I received a call from ABSA’s internet fraud unit, who told me that my internet services has been stopped and that money had been withdrawn from my account.

On reporting the incident at the Rondebosch police station, Weideman discovered that she was not the only victim of a SIM swop scam over the weekend. At the station, she met another couple had been robbed of R5,000.

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[Source: Media24]