The call usually starts politely. Someone from “the fraud department” says they’ve noticed unusual activity on your account, and they just need to confirm a one-time PIN to stop it. Or it’s your grandson, sounding upset, saying he’s been in an accident and needs money transferred before the police get involved. Or it’s SARS, apparently, threatening arrest over an outstanding amount that must be settled today.

None of it is true. All of it is designed to make you move fast, before you’ve had time to think it through properly.

Banking fraud in South Africa has become considerably more convincing than the badly-spelled emails of a decade ago. Scammers now know your name, your bank, sometimes even your recent transactions, pulled together from data leaks and social media. A call that references real details feels credible in a way a generic one never did, and that’s exactly the point.

The single most useful thing to remember is that your bank will never ask you for a one-time PIN, a full card number, or your online banking password, over the phone, by SMS, or by email. Not to “verify your identity.” Not to “reverse a suspicious transaction.” If a call claims to be your bank and asks for any of that, the safest move is to hang up and phone the number on the back of your card yourself, rather than the number the caller gives you or the one that shows on your screen.

Older family members are targeted deliberately, and not only by strangers. Elder financial abuse often comes from someone close, a new acquaintance who becomes unusually involved in a parent’s finances, a family member who starts managing an elderly relative’s accounts with less and less oversight, or someone who quietly encourages a will to be changed. It’s uncomfortable to consider, which is exactly why it tends to go unnoticed for so long. Sudden changes to a will, missing bank statements, new signatories added to an account, or a parent becoming defensive about money conversations they used to have openly, are all worth a closer look, not an argument.

A few practical habits help more than any single piece of software. Set up transaction alerts on every account, so unusual activity is visible immediately rather than at month-end. Where a bank allows it, add a trusted contact who’s notified of major changes to an account. Review power of attorney and any joint signatory arrangements every couple of years, not only when a crisis makes it urgent. And agree, as a family, on a simple rule for anyone asking for money urgently by phone: you call them back on a number you already have, before anything is transferred.

None of this requires suspicion of everyone who calls. It requires slowing down by exactly the amount a scam is designed to prevent. The people trying to move your money quickly are relying on you not pausing to check. Pausing costs nothing. Not pausing can cost everything.