Beware of SARS scammers trying to steal from you
It's tax season, but you must be wary of scams circulating by scammers posing as SARS.
It is always alarming to hear about the extent to which scammers will go to con people out of their money.
Cyber crimes have affected people worldwide and continue to grow. Criminals are finding more efficient ways of accessing people's assets, using technology to their advantage, making us wary of them.
A scam that has taken full advantage of tax season has been rising recently. Capitec Bank sent a notice to all its customers informing them of a SARS scam doing the rounds.
According to the notice, "Scammers are pretending to be the South African Revenue Service (SARS). They may call, email or SMS taxpayers asking for personal, tax, banking or eFiling details using fake claims like tax refunds, outstanding payments or letters of demand."
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has also issued a notice of the scam on their website: "The latest scam is an email asking you to click on a link, seemingly from www.sars.gov.za but linking to a fraudulent website."
To spot a fraudulent link, always hover over hyperlinks to make sure they’re a sars.gov.za link.
Have a look at the image below, which shows you how to spot a scam link:
If you ever have doubts about the communication you receive from SARS, you can follow these tips.
Protect yourself from scams and phishing!
Do not open or respond to emails from unknown sources.
Beware of emails or SMSs asking for personal, tax, banking or eFiling details.
SARS will never send you hyperlinks to other websites.
SARS updates these on the following pages to stay informed about scams and phishing attempts. All known scams are listed on the Scams and Phishing webpage, and if in doubt, email the IT security team at [email protected].
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