A Harrismith woman is demanding a full refund from Standard Bank after nearly R60,000 was allegedly taken from her account in a series of disputed transactions. The customer, Anastatia Radebe, has rejected the bank’s offer of about R16,725 as a final goodwill settlement, saying she never approved the payments.

The Standard Bank fraud dispute centres on whether the transactions were truly authorised. Radebe says she never received the OTPs the bank says were used, while Standard Bank says its investigation found the payments were approved using her registered profile, card details, PIN and OTP-linked verification steps.

Customer rejects bank’s goodwill offer

Radebe told Independent Media that the money disappeared in January 2026 and that she reported the matter to the bank and police on 26 January. She said she later received the outcome of Standard Bank’s investigation on 26 March, about two months after first raising the complaint.

According to the source article, the disputed payments included transactions to Vodacom, Zapper and EasyPay, ranging from about R1,000 to R4,000. Radebe said the financial hit forced her to take out a R40,000 overdraft to cover living costs and that she wants the full amount refunded with interest.

Standard Bank said it found no fault on its side. Spokesperson Ross Linstrom said the bank’s records showed that two virtual cards were created on Radebe’s profile and that OTP logs indicated the required codes were delivered to her registered cellphone number, with no SIM swap detected.

Why the case matters beyond one customer

This Standard Bank fraud dispute reflects a wider tension in South African banking: when valid credentials and OTPs are used, banks often treat transactions as authorised, even when customers say they were deceived or compromised. Standard Bank’s own public fraud warnings say phishing, smishing and vishing remain common methods used to steal sensitive details and OTPs.

SABRIC’s latest crime-statistics material adds broader context. The industry body says financial crime remains a major risk and has warned that AI-driven fraud and spoofing are making scams harder for consumers to spot.

The dispute also comes shortly after Standard Bank disclosed a separate data incident. In a statement published on 2 April 2026, the bank said some personal information had been accessed without authorisation, but added that its banking systems were not impacted and remained secure and operational.

Ombud route remains open

Linstrom said customers who are unhappy with the outcome of a fraud complaint can approach the National Financial Ombud for an independent review. The ombud says it resolves complaints against financial institutions at no cost to complainants.

For now, the Standard Bank fraud dispute remains unresolved. Radebe maintains that she did not approve the transactions, while the bank says its internal investigation found that the required security checks were completed using credentials linked to her account.