A Johannesburg pensioner claims fraudsters stole more than R1.2 million from her Nedbank accounts after a sophisticated phishing scam, while the bank has offered a R20,000 goodwill payment and continues pursuing debt linked to the compromised accounts.
A retired schoolteacher from Dowerglen, east of Johannesburg, has been left financially devastated after fraudsters drained more than R1 million from her Nedbank accounts in a sophisticated phishing attack.
Nearly nine months later, the bank has offered her just R20,000 as a "goodwill gesture" while simultaneously pursuing her for debt on the very accounts that were compromised.
The case of Luisa Elisabetta Westphal, 63, lays bare the alarming vulnerability of South Africa's banking infrastructure to social engineering fraud and raises urgent questions about whether major financial institutions are doing enough to protect their clients, or whether ordinary South Africans are simply being left to absorb the full cost of criminal schemes.
On the evening of Tuesday, September 30, 2025, at approximately 18:20, Westphal received a WhatsApp call from a woman who identified herself only as "Rose," claiming to represent South African Airways and offering a promotional discount.
