Dee, a popular real estate agent, was about to take an interested couple through her show house when everything suddenly turned into a horror show.

An armed criminal came in and held her at gunpoint. She had to hand over her purse, containing access to her life – her wallet, her phone, her keys.

Dee later told Bank Zero: “The criminals hacked my phone and called my family members to say that if I wanted all my belongings, then they wanted 10 000 [sic] more from me. They knew where I lived…”

She was traumatised. Worried about them using her bank cards, Dee contacted Bank Zero and was told that if they don’t have her card PIN (or app PIN), her money was safe. 

Like many in Dee’s circle, she had set her card to always ask for PIN on card taps, even on small amounts. So that was a relief to her.

To access her bank account, all Dee then had to do was to pair the Bank Zero app on another phone, and then remote-delete her Bank Zero app on the stolen phone. 

This however wasn’t the case with her other banks, where she had to wait on call centre agents. And worse, they then froze her accounts! All that banking access gone…

That evening Dee noticed Bank Zero was the only bank still communicating with her.  (All Bank Zero app notifications are echoed to email for security reasons.)

More importantly, Bank Zero sends notifications for all amounts (no minimum), as well as for ALL attempted money movements, even if unsuccessful. This got the ball rolling, and the momentum shifted to Dee:

“Dee: Card tap with PIN required, tried R77.70 at PnP XXX on 31 Oct-22 Mon 19h51, balance XXX.”

Boom!

The criminals thought they were cunning in tapping below R100 to not generate a notification, plus avoid a PIN. But this time it backfired on them.  

Dee hurried to the store not far from her. From just the notification information, the store was quickly able to retrieve the relevant CCTV footage.

To her shock she recognised the criminals – the potential home buyers at her show house! Their scam was exposed.

Armed with the CCTV footage on a USB stick and her Bank Zero notification, she went to the police. 

The detective confirmed that the evidence provided a strong enough case, and arranged for the couple to come to the police station. 

As they walked in, they were shocked to see Dee, and were promptly arrested. The police then searched their home and found Dee’s purse contents – no cash but keys and bank cards. Later the police also recovered her phone.

They begged Dee to drop the charges, but since it now was a police matter, they were jailed at ‘Sun City’. After 2 weeks they received bail, and the case will be heard in Jan 2023.

Dee contacted Bank Zero, reflecting on how lucky she was to have received that notification which made the next steps so easy. She kept repeating “Bank Zero saved me”.  

Dee is now in the process of moving the rest of her banking over to Bank Zero – her debit orders, her cash investments, her business account.

And it makes perfect sense to her, since Bank Zero was the only bank she could continue engaging with immediately after her cards and phone were stolen.  

https://www.news24.com/news24/partnercontent/dee-was-robbed-heres-how-bank-zero-saved-her-20221205