Internet banking fraud alertness in the banking sector: South Africa

Shewangu Dzomira

doi:10.21511/bbs.12(1-1).2017.07

Shewangu Dzomira

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21511/bbs.12(1-1).2017.07

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Abstract

This paper analyzes internet banking fraud alertness to the general public by the South African banking institutions. The study is centered on routine activity theory, which is a criminology theory. A qualitative content analysis was used as the research technique for the interpretation of the text data from each bank’s website through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns to provide an in-depth understanding of internet banking fraud alertness in the banking sector. A sample size of 13 out of 16 locally and foreign controlled retail banks in South Africa was used. The findings report that banks are not adequately providing internet fraud alertness information to the general public on their websites notwithstanding that most banks they do provide such information to log-in users and the use of that information is doubtful. This study suggests a need to augment internet banking fraud alertness information and passably inform internet banking users of the types of internet banking fraud perpetrated by internet fraudsters before they log-in for transacting. Considering the current and widespread quandary of internet banking fraud, the information of this paper is important for internet banking users to improve their aptitude in identifying fraudulent schemes and circumvent them, and for the banking institutions to invest more in the provision of internet banking fraud information to the general public.

Highlights

The internet is a handy and an opportune means to get to a multitude audience exclusive of expend a lot of resources and is as well an intermediate employed by the banking sector to get to its customers instantaneously
This study suggests a need to augment internet banking fraud alertness information and passably inform internet banking users of the types of internet banking fraud perpetrated by internet fraudsters before they log-in for transacting
It was found out that scam had the highest code frequency of 7.9% appearing in 7 banks. It reflects that scam awareness is the highest than others but using case frequencies results it shows that phishing and identity theft are the most disclosed across the banking sector

Summary

Introduction

The internet is a handy and an opportune means to get to a multitude audience exclusive of expend a lot of resources and is as well an intermediate employed by the banking sector to get to its customers instantaneously. According to Redelinghuis & Rensleigh (2010) South Africa has a well-developed and timehonored banking system which matches satisfactorily with those in many developed countries such as USA, and sets South Africa apart from other emerging market countries like Brazil. Dlamini (2012) cited that the cybercrime that remains on top of the list of South Africa major cyber-attacks and threats include phishing, identity theft, monetary fraudulent attacks, key logging, malware, social engineering, spam, spyware and Trojan viruses (ISG Africa 2011). Kigerl (2012) undertook a study seeking to establish what variables envisage whether a nation is high in either spamming activity or phishing activity; it was found that wealthier nations with more internet users per capita had elevated cybercrime activity.

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