Scams and Phishing Attacks
Members of the public are randomly emailed with false emails made to look as if these emails were sent from SARS, but are in fact fraudulent emails aimed at enticing unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details. Examples include emails that appear to be from returns@sars.co.za or refunds@sars.co.za indicating that tax payers are eligible to receive TAX refunds.
These emails contain links to false forms and false websites made to look like the “real thing”, but with the aim of fooling people into entering personal information such as bank account details which the criminals then extract and use fraudulently.
Please note these are scams and SARS taxpayers should take note of the following:
- Do not open or respond to emails from unknown sources.
- Beware of emails that ask for personal, tax, banking and eFiling details (login credentials, passwords, pins, credit / debit card information, etc.) as SARS will never ask taxpayers for such information in an email.
- SARS will not request your banking details through the phone, email or websites.
- Beware of false sms’s.
More samples:
Institution Specific Scams: Absa | Capitec | FNB | Nedbank | Standard Bank
Topic Specific Scams: Audit | Personal and Banking Details | Refunds | Payments
Source Specific Scams: Email | Letter/Fax | Phone Call | SMS | Website
