“I am happy that the bank gave me my money,” she said. “I want to thank Limpopo Mirror for highlighting my plight. The story made it easy for me to get a refund.”

The 45-year-old Mkhari, who stays at Elim, was a victim of an ATM scam and she was robbed of her hard-earned money a fortnight ago.

According to Mkhari, she was attending a case at the Louis Trichardt Magistrates’ Court when her phone started vibrating. It was an SMS notifying her of a R399,80 food purchase at a KFC in Tzaneen, some 107 km away. Shortly after that, a second SMS notified her of a R2 000 withdrawal from her account at an ATM in the same area.

Mkhari's account was blocked immediately upon her reporting the matter at the Makhado Standard Bank branch. Her bank card has since been cancelled and a new one was issued to her. Her story was also published in Limpopo Mirror.

Although she is extremely happy with the outcome of the problem and that her bank had refunded her, she wants to warn other ATM users. “Always keep a watchful eye for fraudsters when making bank transactions,” she advised. “We are no longer safe in this world.”