South African mobile operator MTN has issued a warning to its customers advising them to be wary of a SIM swap scam.

“This is another attempt by malicious users to obtain the personal banking details of MTN customers,” the group said.

A syndicate has sent out emails reading:

“Dear Client, we have discovered a suspected sim swap attempt on your no. The swap will be processed within the next hour. If you did not initiate this sim swap, please Cancel here.”

When clicking the cancel link, the user is provided with a page in order to supply the fraudsters with banking details.

“Once supplied, the criminals can then use the information to make fraudulent transactions from the banking account,” MTN said.

“Customers should note that MTN does not send any SIM swap warnings to its customers via email. Furthermore, customers must ignore any such emails and should report them to 083 123 STOP (7867).”

The group said as an additional measure the website had been blocked on its network.