A case of fraud has been opened after close to R400 000 was removed from a Grahamstown school's bank account.
A case of fraud has been opened after close to R400 000 was removed from a Grahamstown school's bank account.
Victoria Primary School is working to recover a large sum of money that was removed from one of its bank accounts during the recent holidays. A routine inspection of a bank statement last week uncovered two fraudulent transactions transferring amounts of R187,000 and R210,000 to an unknown third party account.
School principal, Colette Kaiser, wrote to parents on Monday (25 January 2016) informing them “with a very heavy heart” of the illegal transactions.
Kaiser said as soon as the discrepancy was picked up she had alerted the School Governing Body (SGB), the bank, local police and the school’s computer specialists.
It appears that instructions on forged emails, purporting to be from the school’s finance section were sent to the school’s bank.
Acting on these instructions, the bank transferred the specified amounts into an account at a second bank.
There was a further attempt to use the same method to defraud a school parent of an unspecified amount. Fortunately no money was removed from the parent’s account.
Victoria Primary SGB member, Guy Halse, who is also IT Operations Manager at Rhodes University, said one of the school’s email accounts was compromised but they had not yet been able to determine how security was breached.
He believes, however, that some form of phishing may have been applied. The school has taken steps to ensure that this cannot be repeated.
Phishing is the use of bogus emails, fake websites or malicious software to trick users into revealing confidential information such as usernames or passwords. These login details can then be used to fraudulently remove money from bank accounts.
Kaiser said the school is working with the bank and the South African Police Service to track down and recover the missing amounts.
She wished to reassure parents that their school funds were intact and that this incident would not affect normal teaching or school activities.
Kaiser said the bank was cooperating with the investigation, but the SGB advised against revealing the name of their bank until further information becomes available.
Grocott’s Mail knows the name of this bank and offered a senior official the opportunity to comment on the incident. The offer was declined with a non-committal: “no comment”.
Chairperson of the School Governing Body, Rosy Walker, said that while the amounts removed from their account are substantial, there is no risk of financial instability as the school has sufficient reserves to sustain current operations.
Police confirmed that a case docket has been opened for fraud.
Grahamstown Crime Intelligence Officer Captain Milanda Coetzer said the docket had been forwarded to the Hawks investigative unit for investigation.
"We have received tremendous support from the VP community," Coetzer. "The police are thankful that the Grahamstown community always stands together when there is an injury to one."
Protect yourself from phishing
Everyone who has a bank account should be alert to the risks of phishing and other types of fraud. Too often people believe that phishing could never happen to them – don’t fool yourself it can be happen to anyone. Users should check bank statements regularly; be suspicious of emails from unrecognised senders – especially if they ask you to confirm personal or financial information; keep your virus protection up-to-date and change your passwords often.
