Crime stats for 2021 released on Monday by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre reveal branch-before-deposit attacks are also surging.
There were two main modi operandi used by perpetrators to target victims in parking lots close to a bank:
An individual is followed to the branch. While the unsuspecting target stands in the queue outside the bank, the perpetrators approach the victim“Unfortunately, criminals were able to anticipate customer behaviour, which was to take the shortest route to the branch entrance, and then target the victim while they were still in possession of their cash deposit.”
ATM attacks also increased by 11%, with a 17% increase in losses. Incidents where explosives were used increased by 15%, whereas the number of angle grinder incidents decreased by 11%, from 47 in 2020 to 42 incidents in 2021.
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