Cell Phone Banking Complaint? - Be RICA Compliant First

The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) is alerting consumers to the importance of being compliant with the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (RICA) which came into being in July 2009. 

"We will check if you are RICA compliant should you have a complaint against your bank where cell phone banking is concerned. Should consumers not adhere to RICA, they place themselves at risk of the OBS not entertaining their complaints," laments OBS head, advocate Clive Pillay.

RICA requires everyone who has an active cellular phone number or purchases a new prepaid starter pack, to register their SIM cards. All current and new contracts, top-up and pre-paid customers are required to register their SIM cards with their network provider.

Cell phones have made life convenient to the point that we can do our banking transactions by using a cell phone with no need to enter a banking hall. 

"Banks are improving their services with the use of cell phone technology to make life convenient for their clients," says Pillay. 

The OBS warns though, that consumers need to be wary when using their cell phones for banking transactions, as scam artists always find clever ways to try to defraud you.

The use of technology in the banking realm has brought about a techno-geek language for scams such as, vishing, phishing, malware and pharming. All these are forms of identity theft that can be a threat to consumers using cell phones to do their banking. 

"Identity theft is the fastest-growing fraudulent activity in the world. It's important that you protect your information and hence the importance to be RICA compliant," adds Pillay. "Further, the Protection of Personal Information Bill (the Bill) was tabled in Parliament, 24 August 2009, which will make it harder for scam artist to defraud you," says Pillay.

According to an All Media and Products Survey 2008, 86% of SA households have at least one cell phone available to them. There are approximately 40 million cell phone subscribers in SA.

"This is a viable market to penetrate for leading retail banks in SA As a result one cannot over-emphasis the value of legislation such as RICA and the Bill to help protect consumers from being defrauded," says Pillay.

In 2005 it was reported that SA banks lost R83million to fraudsters using stolen or copied IDs and in 2008, identity theft reportedly could have cost SA close to R1billion per annum. 

"If we extrapolate these figures over time, that's enough evidence that SA needed legislation to protect its citizens," comments Pillay.

Reports show that cell phone banking transactions increase during holiday periods. The OBS is advising consumers, as we head into the festive season, to be aware of the risk of not complying with RICA. 

"The introduction of RICA and in due course, the Bill, will make it considerably difficult for criminals to "do" crime in SA," said Pillay.