“Don’t Click the Link”: Man Warns South Africans Against Falling for Bank SMS Scam

• A South African content creator had people's best interests at heart and warned them about a bank scam
• The man and his friend showed what would happen when clicking on the bogus bank's link
• Social media users in the post's comment section shared similar fraudulent experiences, while others cracked jokes about the scammers

Content creator MackieTV was adamant about warning people against clicking a fake FNB link, noting that it was scammers trying to hack into people's accounts. The young man, along with his friend and fellow content creator Fac31ess, showed South Africans how the link proved to be bogus.

On 28 August, 2025, MackieTV uploaded a video on his TikTok account showing the SMS they received on one of their devices. The message, supposedly from the bank, stated that it detected a security risk in their account. The rest of the message urged the recipient to click on a link that was provided to update their information.

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After telling people, "Don't click the link," the two young men, for educational purposes, clicked the link to show online viewers what would happen. Their phone's screen opened up to what appeared to be a warning notification from the bank. It also asked for the person to enter their login details.

However, a quick look at the link showed how fake it was. The suspicious website URL displayed was: cardfnbank.cc.

South Africans react to bank scam

Several social media users commented, sharing personal experiences or those of people they knew who had encountered similar scams. Others said how comical they found the 'laziness' the criminals presented in their scams.

@yall.itsnuha shared with a laugh:

"I got the message. I don't have an FNB account."

@uyena_2 commented on their experience with scammers:

"I received a message saying my Netflix payment was declined and my account would be suspended. They do these things in different ways now."

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A frustrated @wackalenium remarked to people on the internet:

"What I don’t understand is how people are still clicking on links in SMSs. In 2025?! No, man! Not even in emails. It’s simple!"

@mikatekochauke92 wrote in the comment section:

"If it isn't a notification that I got money in my account, I ignore every message they send."

@nobodylikesashowoff told the online community:

"I have to say it's a good scam, but after hundreds of codes, you get careless like that? Nah, that one is still learning. You can't make sloppy mistakes like that if you can manage to recreate an FNB page and just assign the website under a random domain."

@helmuthyume jokingly stated:

"Today's scammers don't even put in effort. They disappoint me."

Take a look at the TikTok video below:

3 Other stories about scams

• In another article, Briefly News reported about an Afrikaner woman who entertained herself while speaking to a 'customs' scammer about an illegal parcel she supposedly had at a local airport.
• A South African woman claimed to the online community that Capitec Bank scammed her out of her savings. People suspected the woman was involved in illegal activities.
• Actress Connie Ferguson and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi's images were altered through AI technology to promote bogus investments. South Africans caught onto the trick and laughed at the videos.

Source: Briefly News