There are measures that companies put in place to help combat debit order scams, says the Payments Association of SA (Pasa).
Companies should follow rigorous onboarding processes, to prevent debit order scams from occurring, namely a risk review of companies collecting debit orders.
Secondly, there is a system called DebiCheck, which was implemented due to debit order abuse, after the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) asked Pasa, whose members include the country's banks, to find a solution.
The association states that a DebiCheck debit order is a new debit order electronically confirmed by the consumer, with their bank or service provider, on a once-off basis, at the start of a new contract that has been signed up with a company.
DebiCheck is a new way in which the consumer can control how certain debit orders are taken out of their bank account.
DebiCheck allows the consumer’s bank to capture the debit order information by checking the information before the debit order is processed.
“DebiCheck debit orders must be processed within the conditions agreed to by the consumer, therefore the consumer will have added protection on their DebiCheck debit orders. This is since the consumer gets to choose whether to accept or decline a request from their bank when asked to confirm their DebiCheck debit order.”
To understand the DebiCheck process better, consumers may ask their bank, company, or service provider to provide more information. Also, consumers can go to the DebiCheck website (www.debicheck.co.za).
The association adds that DebiCheck will only cover roughly 35% of debit orders which are run immediately after the payment of salaries and does not apply to all debit orders.
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