You & your family

Protect your money, identity and home devices

Practical steps for South Africans dealing with banking scams, SIM-swap attempts, social media account takeovers, data leaks, school platforms and home Wi-Fi.

First actions

Do these before you need them

These controls reduce the impact of the most common consumer attacks.

Lock down email first

Your email resets almost every other account. Use a strong password, turn on MFA and review recovery numbers.

Protect banking channels

Enable transaction alerts, confirm beneficiary changes and contact your bank from its official app or card number.

Update phones and routers

Install updates, use screen locks and change the default Wi-Fi router admin password.

Save evidence

Keep screenshots, SMSes, account numbers, payment references and call logs before deleting scam messages.

Sample guidance

Common home risks

Banking fraud

Spot payment and refund scams

Be wary of urgent WhatsApp requests, marketplace courier fees, fake SARS refunds and links that ask for card PINs or app approvals.

Identity

Respond to a data breach

Change reused passwords, watch for new credit enquiries and treat follow-up calls as suspicious, even if the caller knows private details.

Family safety

Secure children's accounts

Use child profiles, limit app purchases, review privacy settings and keep school platform passwords separate from gaming accounts.

Connectivity

Harden home Wi-Fi

Use WPA2 or WPA3, rename the network, disable WPS where possible and keep visitors on a guest network.

Checklist

Monthly household check

  • Review banking alerts and remove old beneficiaries you no longer use.
  • Check that your mobile number and email recovery options still belong to you.
  • Update phones, laptops, smart TVs and router firmware.
  • Back up important photos, IDs and documents to a second location.
  • Talk through one recent scam message with the household.

Resources

Personal safety checklists and forms

Web form

Cyber incident intake and triage

Work out whether to contact your bank, SAPS, the Information Regulator or the Cybersecurity Hub first.

 Form + export

Evidence preservation checklist

List screenshots, phone numbers, payment references, timestamps and missing evidence before deleting anything.

 Checklist

Household monthly cyber check

Turn the monthly household check into a simple recurring review for banking, recovery and device safety.

 Guided form

Data-breach personal response

Build an account-by-account plan for reused passwords, monitoring steps and suspicious follow-up calls.