{"id":793649,"date":"2024-10-03T13:17:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T11:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=793649"},"modified":"2024-10-03T13:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T11:17:50","slug":"r6-billion-a-month-social-grant-pain-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/793649\/r6-billion-a-month-social-grant-pain-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"R6 billion a month social grant pain\u00a0for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SASSA has seen a massive influx of people applying for social grants\u2014with over 17 million people applying for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in September alone\u2014leaving the door wide open for fraudsters to take advantage of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, over 17 million people applied for the R370 SRD grant, an increase of 3 million people compared to September of 2021, potentially pushing the total monthly expenditure on the grant to over R6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi, told Newzroom Afrika<\/a> that the number of successful applications might be much lower than the total submitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past few months, SASSA has picked up a number of \u201cchancers\u201d and \u201cfraudsters\u201d trying to gain the system, Letsatsi explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have seen suspicious spikes in the number of applications in some parts of the country. \u201cWhere are these people coming from?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity theft has also become a serious issue, where individuals who do not qualify for the grant are using the identities of legitimate beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant factor contributing to this fraud is that many applicants do not own smartphones. Previously, SASSA permitted applicants to change their phone numbers or banking details if they lost their devices or switched banks. Unfortunately, fraudsters took advantage of this flexibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, if someone qualifies for the R370 grant, a fraudster can manipulate the system to change the beneficiary’s phone number, redirecting grant payments into their own accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the legitimate beneficiary checks their status, they are informed that their phone number was altered the previous month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat this issue, SASSA has implemented stricter measures. Applicants are now required to use facial recognition technology when making changes to their accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those without access to smartphones, SASSA has installed machines in their offices to facilitate the facial recognition process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this technology aims to reduce fraud, it presents its own challenges, as individuals\u2019 appearances can change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a result of the high number of fraudulent activities, Letsatsi said that SASSA is not reading into this skyrocketing number of applications until the verification process is complete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don’t want to make an assumption in terms of why the numbers have jumped. Our processes are very clear, they will definitely be able to pick these situations up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reassured the public, stating, \u201cI can assure you these numbers will go down,\u201d adding that the figure of 17 million does not alarm them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Letsatsi warned that there would be serious consequences for any people trying to defraud the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we pick up this information we pass it to the law enforcement agencies we work very closely with them so that they’re able to track and arrest people who are trying to defraud the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who try to commit fraud, they get reported and they get arrested and the police would then with those particular issues and give us a report in terms of the success rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are also some people are simply opportunists, he said that their system is advanced enough to detect and block such attempts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letsatsi also cautioned the beneficiaries to be careful when making withdrawals, as risks extend beyond fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour money is very safe in your account. You do not necessarily have to go on the first day to withdraw it,\u201d he advised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople get mugged, and once you are mugged, the money is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis money will be in your account, you can transact using your card. You don’t have to withdraw all of it and go and put it at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: Massive \u2018green gold\u2019 problem for South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September saw over 17 million SRD grant applications, pushing monthly spending past R6 billion\u2014and creating a prime target for fraudsters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":793663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[17497,785,4103],"class_list":["post-793649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-newzroom-afrika","tag-sassa","tag-social-grant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793668,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793649\/revisions\/793668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}