Rise in KYC fraud raises Palapye police concerns
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday June 9, 2026 14:06
The police suspect criminals may have access to information on their targets' bank balances, or such scams may involve insider information from financial institutions, as most of the victims appear to have substantial amounts of money in their accounts.
In the latest incident, the Palapye Police Station commander, Superintendent Koziba Phuluweni, revealed that a 69-year-old man from Palapye lost more than P100,000 after being deceived by fraudsters masquerading as bank officials.
According to Phuluweni, the victim received a phone call from an individual claiming to be an employee of his bank who said they wanted to assist him in updating his KYC details.
'The victim was instructed to provide personal banking information and later asked to share a One-Time Password (OTP) that had been sent to his mobile phone. He complied with the request, only to later receive notifications indicating that money, about P111,000, had been withdrawn from his account,' Phuluweni said.
He noted that such cases remain a major concern as members of the public continue to lose significant amounts of money to fraudsters despite ongoing awareness campaigns by the police and financial institutions.
Phuluweni urged members of the public to exercise caution when dealing with unsolicited phone calls from individuals claiming to represent banks.
'We advise people not to fall into these traps. If there is any issue concerning their bank accounts or KYC details, they should visit their nearest bank branch and verify the information in person,' he said.
The Botswana Police Service continues to encourage the public never to share confidential banking information, including passwords, PINs and OTPs, with anyone over the phone, as legitimate banks do not request such details from customers.