As most stokvel members plan to cash in their yearly savings, members of these stokvels mustn’t lose their hard-earned savings. The South African Police Service in January on 2020 had already arrested 87000 people during the festive season for various crimes, members of stokvels must be aware and vigilant at all times.
Stokvel members need to avoid carrying large sums of cash or withdrawing cash at ATMs and getting help from anyone while at the ATMs. Scammers use deceitful tactics like telling people that the ATM needs to be programmed or serviced immediately after they have inserted their ATM card. Stokvel members need to be aware of these tricks at all times.
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Stokvel members need to protect themselves by sharing information selectively, and only on a need-to-know basis. When sharing monies, they also need to explore other alternatives other than cash, such as asking the banks to deposit the money in the different stokvel members accounts. If there is any cash involved little information should be given to others about where the stokvel is going to withdraw the money and where they will be meeting to share the savings.
Another safety measure that stokvels need to employ is ensuring that they kept a record of all the savings, to avoid confusion and also being scammed by others. As most stokvels did not have regular meetings and directly deposited the monies into the stokvel accounts because of the pandemic. Every member should be able to produce proof of payment into the account and that needs to be verified to what the bank statement.
Other tips are applicable all year round, stokvel members should avoid online purchases from websites that they do not know of or those that are selling items that are priced too low and seem too good to be true. Stokvel members should also avoid ATMs in secluded or dimly lit areas.
Most importantly, stokvel members must refrain from making deposits to their members on high-risk days such as the Monday after month-end and over the weekend.
