{"id":821023,"date":"2025-04-15T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=821023"},"modified":"2025-04-15T14:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:01:53","slug":"vat-scam-warning-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/821023\/vat-scam-warning-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT scam warning in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TymeBank warned South African banking clients about fraudsters using notifications about the looming value-added tax (VAT) increase to scam victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Wandsella, head of operational risk and fraud at TymeBank, said criminals are targeting a wide range of people with this phishing scam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phishing and vishing are cybercrime tactics in which attackers impersonate legitimate institutions, such as banks or service providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is done to trick individuals into revealing personal or financial details, including passwords, card numbers, or one-time passwords (OTPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These scams often come via emails, SMSes, or fake websites made to resemble genuine services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest VAT phishing scam goes beyond banking clients and target anyone with an account or subscription where VAT is payable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes subscriptions to mobile service providers, retailers, healthcare service providers, and online services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fake VAT notifications create a sense of legitimacy and urgency, urging users to click on links to \u201clearn more\u201d, \u201csee updated fees\u201d, or \u201cverify their accounts\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These links typically lead to phishing sites, which mimic the service providers’ websites and are used to steal user login credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest trend highlights the growing threat of opportunistic cybercrime, with fraudsters also taking advantage of certain times in the year, such as holidays and tax filing seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery\u2019s SpendTrend25 report showed that 63% of South Africans have experienced or know someone affected by card fraud, with over 75% having received scam emails, texts, or calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank recently warned of a fraudulent WhatsApp group circulating on social media that claims to be affiliated with some of the bank\u2019s services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an email sent to clients, Standard Bank Online Share Trading urged individuals to be vigilant against potential threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec has also warned that it is seeing several common scams in South Africa which can lead to serious financial losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most prevalent scams targeting consumers include authorised push payment fraud, where victims unknowingly initiate payments to fraudsters,\u201d the bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec explained that advance fee scams are also common at the moment. These scams require victims to pay a fee upfront for a job, loan, prize, or inheritance that doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to protect yourself against online scams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South African banks said consumers should take several actions to mitigate the risk of falling victim to these scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They advised users to be sceptical of offers that seem too good to be true, especially those promising quick or high returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TymeBank also reminded South Africans of the essential security practices below to ensure their safety online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Verify all communication:<\/strong> Never share personal passwords, PINs, or OTPs. TymeBank\u2014and all reputable banks\u2014will never request this information via phone, email, or SMS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Activate multiple authentication factors:<\/strong> Use biometric authentication, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, on your banking app to enhance account security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Be alert to SIM swap fraud:<\/strong> Pay attention to unexpected loss of mobile signal, SMS delivery issues, or unfamiliar SIM notifications. These may indicate a SIM swap. Contact your mobile provider immediately and notify TymeBank if you are a customer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Verify unexpected callers:<\/strong> Even if the caller ID appears to show your bank\u2019s number, remain cautious. Fraudsters can spoof numbers to look legitimate. Hang up and call the bank using verified contact details.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Maintain device security:<\/strong> Keep your smartphone\u2019s operating system and banking app updated to the latest version to benefit from security enhancements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Monitor your accounts:<\/strong> Check your transactions regularly and enable real-time notifications to spot any unusual activity quickly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • End suspicious interactions immediately:<\/strong> If you receive a suspicious or high-pressure call, SMS, or email, end the interaction immediately and report it to your bank directly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Be wary of urgency tactics:<\/strong> Scammers often create a false sense of urgency. Always take time to verify requests, no matter how urgent they seem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The banks said double-checking things is generally a good rule of thumb to avoid falling for scams like the VAT changes or investment offers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    TymeBank warned South Africans about fraudsters using notifications about the looming VAT increase to scam victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":795308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[4883,22300,22299,2504,499,13455],"class_list":["post-821023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-discovery","tag-george-wandsella","tag-phishing-scam","tag-scam","tag-standard-bank","tag-tymebank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821023","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821025,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821023\/revisions\/821025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}