South Africans are facing a disturbing new criminal threat — express kidnappings — where victims are abducted and forced to hand over funds directly through their banking apps. The trend has been flagged by security researchers, banking fraud experts, and law enforcement analysts as one of the most alarming developments in South Africa’s crime landscape in recent years.
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has confirmed that express kidnappings have become increasingly common across the country. Unlike traditional kidnappings that involve prolonged hostage situations or ransom demands, these incidents are swift, targeted, and designed to drain a victim’s bank account as quickly as possible. Criminals force victims to unlock their phones, open their banking apps, and authorise transfers — sometimes under direct physical threat.
Many of these crimes are opportunistic. A criminal spots a target, seizes the moment, and acts fast. But in other cases, victims are specifically selected because they appear to have money — whether that’s based on the car they drive, the area they live in, or the lifestyle they project on social media. “Depending on the group’s sophistication, this can range from a couple of thousand rand to millions,” the ISS noted.
CrisisOnCall communication manager Ruan Vermaak told reporters that criminals are particularly drawn to individuals who hold well-paying jobs, drive sought-after vehicles, or follow predictable daily routines. The predictability is the problem — when your movements are easy to anticipate, you become easy to target.
What makes these incidents especially unsettling is where they happen. These aren’t remote, dark alleyways. Vermaak confirmed that many express kidnappings take place at boom gates, security complexes, and shopping mall parking areas — in broad daylight, while people are distracted loading groceries into their cars. Several such cases have already been reported at shopping centres across Gauteng.
Once criminals have drained a victim’s accounts, they often simply abandon the person and drive off with the vehicle. The whole operation can be over in minutes.
Express Kidnappings Fuel Surge in Digital Banking Fraud Across South Africa
The numbers behind this trend are staggering. According to the latest South African Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics, close to 4,800 kidnapping cases were reported nationally between October and December last year alone. That translates to roughly 53 kidnappings every single day — with Gauteng accounting for more than half of all reported incidents.
These figures land against the backdrop of a broader and deeply troubling rise in digital banking fraud. The Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) has repeatedly warned that smartphones have become one of the primary targets for financially motivated criminals. Your phone isn’t just a device anymore — it’s a direct portal to your savings, investments, and credit facilities.
The National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) has put hard numbers to the problem. Digital banking fraud complaints surged by a staggering 73%, climbing from 1,436 cases between January and May in one year to 2,483 during the same period in 2025. That’s not a blip — that’s a crisis.
The NFO has also raised specific concerns about virtual banking cards. One victim reportedly lost R500,000 through virtual card fraud alone. Nerosha Maseti, Lead Ombud for Banking and Credit at the NFO, acknowledged that while virtual cards are a genuinely useful tool, they are not immune to exploitation. “Fraudsters can create virtual cards and then use the virtual card credentials to perform transactions once gaining access to a customer’s digital banking profile,” she explained, pointing to OTP sharing and approved authentication prompts as common entry points.
Shopping malls have emerged as a key hunting ground for these criminals, given the volume of foot traffic, the number of vehicles, and the ease with which targets can be observed before an attack. As we’ve seen in multiple reports, criminals are patient — they watch, they wait, and they strike when you’re most distracted.
The convergence of express kidnappings and digital banking fraud represents a new frontier in South African crime, one that demands both individual vigilance and a coordinated response from banks, law enforcement, and security companies. Staying aware of your surroundings, varying your daily routines, and enabling additional layers of security on your banking apps are no longer optional — they are essential.