SARS issues important fraud warning for tax season 2025

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has flagged new scams ahead of the 2025 tax season, with Standard Bank also warning of increased criminal activity as filing season opens.

According to SARS, the latest scam is an SMS indicating that revenue services is conducting an audit on a tax refund.

Taxpayers are prompted to click a link, which then leads to a phishing site designed to steal user information.

The latest scam follows a tried-and-true method by scammers to fool taxpayers into taking action that will compromise their data, joining a long and growing list of tactics used by criminals.

As is always the case, the revenue service urged users to steer clear of messages from unknown sources and refrain from clicking on links.

“SARS will never send you hyperlinks to other websites. Beware of emails or SMSs asking for personal, tax, banking or eFiling detail,” it said.

The latest scam, focusing on SARS audits, joins this long list of prototypes that taxpayers should be on the lookout for, especially as tax season kicks off.

According to Standard Bank’s Head of Fraud Risk Management, Athaly Khan, fraud tends to pick up significantly during filing season, with criminals looking to exploit diligent taxpayers.

Taxpayers should expect a spike in fraudulent activity starting next week, 7 July, as SARS starts issuing auto assessments, with alerts going out to those who qualify.

A second wave will hit from 20 July, when the manual filing season opens.

While tax scams can happen all year round, unsuspecting taxpayers are more vulnerable between 20 July and 20 October 2025, when tax affairs are in the spotlight.

Popular methods include extortion or secure account scams, as well as alerts to change banking details or the more typical phishing attempts.

Tax season 2025 dates

How tax scams work

With extortion scams, Khan noted that criminals will claim to be investigating a taxpayer’s return submission, having discovered discrepancies.

The fraudsters often threaten penalties or even criminal prosecution, providing fabricated documentation to substantiate their allegations.

“Intimidation and manipulation tactics may be used to instil fear and panic so that you can follow their instructions,” Khan said.

Once satisfied that the customer is convinced, fraudsters usually ask for money to be paid over to them to make the case disappear.

Alternatively, they provide the customer with a fraudulent account number to transfer ‘funds potentially due to SARS’ so that the funds are secured whilst they are busy with the ‘bogus’ investigation.

In most of these cases, they claim to be in collaboration with the bank, law enforcement or regulatory bodies.

Fraudsters also send fake communications with banking details, claiming that taxpayers owe funds to SARS.

Some customers may in fact have funds due to SARS, making the communication seem legit, Khan said.

However, the account details provided belong to fraudsters, not SARS. They may offer a settlement discount to pressure taxpayers into paying quickly without checking.

Reflecting the latest scam and many others flagged by SARS, Khan warned of any suspicious communications being sent that include a link, icon, attachment or QR Code.

She said these links and attachments could be laced with malware, which could give the criminals unauthorised access to devices, including digital banking or eFiling profiles.

In more traditional cases, users are prompted to give their banking details to make payments, compromising their cards and accounts.

Some of the fraudulent messages and emails that have been doing the rounds focus on these areas:

• Threats of SARS issuing court summonses against taxpayers
• Threats of SARS blacklisting taxpayers
• Threats of SARS issuing stop orders on accounts
• Notice of outstanding amounts owed to taxpayers
• Notice of outstanding amounts owed to SARS
• Notice of delayed payments pending FICA review
• Latest: Alerts of pending or active SARS audits

SARS has repeatedly warned taxpayers to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and to report any suspected phishing attempts.

Taxpayers are urged to note 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.).
• SARS will never request your banking details in any communication you receive via post, email, or SMS. However, for the purpose of telephonic engagement and authentication, SARS will verify your personal details.
• SARS will not send you hyperlinks to other websites—even those of banks.
• Beware of false SMSes.
• SARS does not send *.htm or *.html attachments.
• SARS will never ask for your credit card details.

Examples of these scams can be seen on SARS’ scams page. To report or to get more information on phishing, please send an email to [email protected].