South Africans will spend about R159 billion online this year. For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, LG Electronics South Africa shares the account and payment habits that make that money harder to steal.
A R19 delivery fee is cheap enough that most people pay it without a second look, and that is why fraudsters count on it. Increasingly common, fake courier SMSes demanding a R19 “release fee” send shoppers to a payment page built to copy their card details, which criminals then use for their own purchases.
This kind of fraud is growing, with losses on South African-issued credit and debit cards rising 18% to R1,75 billion in 2025, and card-not-present fraud, where the criminal never touches the physical card, remained the largest contributor. World Wide Worx expects South Africans to spend R159 billion online in 2026, and more than half of that shopping now happens on phones.
“People spend weeks comparing fridges or TVs, then pay for them with a password they may have used on ten other sites,” says Pennileigh Naidu, Head of Corporate Marketing and PR at LG Electronics South Africa. “October is a great month to change that and make your online shopping experience secure. The key habits take an afternoon to set up and protect each purchase afterwards.”
Secure your email before anything else
Online stores send password resets to your email address because that is one of the most important digital accounts a person runs and can protect, but it still requires input and maintenance to stay secure. If someone else gains control of that inbox, as an example, they can take over the shopping accounts linked to it. Give your email the strongest password you can, keep it unique from others, and switch on two-step verification.
Use each store password once
Criminals take username and password pairs leaked from one site and try them on others. The LG online store asks for at least eight characters drawn from a mix of character types. Pair that with a password you use nowhere else. A password manager, including the one built into most phones, can remember it for you.
Keep your card number out of the checkout
Capitec, Discovery Bank, FNB and Standard Bank are among the banks that let customers create a virtual card in their banking app. It has its own number and a spending limit the owner sets. If that number leaks, cancel it in the app and make a new one. Some payment methods skip card numbers altogether: at lg.com/za, Capitec Pay and Scan to Pay confirm the purchase through the shopper’s banking app. On a shared laptop, say no when the browser offers to save your card.
Read the approval screen
South African banks ask you to approve most online card payments in their app or with a one-time PIN. Check the amount and the merchant’s name each time. A “R19 courier fee” that shows up on screen as R4 999 at a shop you don’t recognise is a payment to decline. Instant alerts for every card transaction will catch anything that slips through.
Check delivery messages against your order
LG’s authorised couriers deliver lg.com/za orders, and each order appears under My Orders in your account. If a delivery message asks for money or card details, close it. Check your account, or call LG on 0800 545 454, before you pay anything. To get back to the store, type lg.com/za into the browser yourself.
