# General Business Category > Scam Alert Forum >  Sim swop used for online banking theft

## Dave A

For people who get their one time password for online banking by SMS, this story is cause for concern.




> The Novalis Ubuntu Institute lost almost R100 000 when a Johannesburg-based syndicate hacked into its bank account. The syndicate managed to obtain the institute's one-time security password needed to carry out online transactions. 
> 
> They persuaded MTN to swop a sim card so that the one-time password was sent to them, and not to Ubuntu's chief financial officer, Anne-Lise Bure. A total of R90 460 was taken from Novalis's Standard Bank Internet banking account.
> 
> A sim-swop allows a cellphone user to replace a lost SIM card while keeping the same cellphone number.
> full story from IOL here

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