The easing of lockdown restrictions in the country has seen an increase in the movement of people, especially at shopping malls across the country and as the festive season draws closer, consumers are being warned to be more vigilant. Recent stats by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre had revealed that digital banking fraud increased by 33% in 2020 as more people moved online due the COVID-19 pandemic. Some consumers have taken to social media to talk about their ordeals of being victims of crime syndicates at malls after their cellphones were stolen and bank apps used to access their accounts.

Sabric's Louise van der Merwe said that while the theft of phones was not a new phenomenon, cellphones had become targets as they stored vital information that could allow criminals to access your bank account. "Your personal data, when combined with technology, has become the new key to the safe that holds your money in the bank." Van der Merwe said that criminals used a number of ways to access information stored on mobile phones, including using social engineering to obtain usernames and passwords stored in the cloud. "So you must safeguard your data to prevent criminals getting access to your safe." In the event where a cellphone was lost or stolen, consumers were being urged to borrow a phone and contact their bank immediately so that they could deactivate the banking app and block your account.