SARS warns of new ‘court order’ scam targeting taxpayers
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has warned taxpayers to be aware of emails that purport to be from SARS, masking as a SARS notice with a link to a “court order”.
This Tuesday (25 October), the taxman urged South Africans to ignore the email and not click on any links.
SARS has been a hot target for criminals who use its name and authority to their advantage by misrepresenting their true identity – when trying to defraud someone.
Over the years, the revenue service has recorded 323 new types of scams, the majority of which involve a criminal posing as the service in order to create a false impression of ‘trust’ and gain access to important documentation.
In light of such varied cases, the tax authority has created a section on its website where it posts updates or developments regarding new scams that use SARS as a means of deception and fraud.
According to SARS, the new scam falls under the ambit of phishing schemes where members of the public are randomly emailed with false “spoofed” emails made to look as if these emails were sent from SARS – but they are actually fraudulent, aiming to entice unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information.
Other examples of similar scams include emails that appear to be from [email protected] or [email protected], indicating that taxpayers are eligible to receive tax refunds.
“These emails contain links to false forms and fake 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,” said SARS.
According to the authority, the following should be taken into account:
- 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.).
- SARS will never request your banking details in any communication that you receive via post, email, or SMS. However, for the purpose of telephonic engagement and authentication purposes, SARS will verify your personal details. Importantly, SARS will not send you any hyperlinks to other websites – even those of banks.
- Beware of false SMSs.
- SARS does not send *.htm or *.html attachments.
- SARS will never ask for your credit card details.
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