{"id":863160,"date":"2026-06-10T11:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=863160"},"modified":"2026-06-10T11:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:52:00","slug":"standard-bank-fraud-warning-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/863160\/standard-bank-fraud-warning-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Standard Bank fraud warning for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With South Africa’s 2026 season set to start soon, Standard Bank has warned that fraudsters are already targeting unsuspecting taxpayers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tax season for individual taxpayers (non-provisional) will open on 13 July 2026 and run to 23 October 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auto assessments will begin two weeks before, starting 1 July 2026 and running through to 12 July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-provisional taxpayers are those who earn a regular salary or wage from an employer and have PAYE deducted throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These taxpayers usually have simple tax affairs with no additional income sources, and they are either auto-assessed or submit their tax returns once during Filing Season every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A provisional taxpayer earns income in addition to a regular salary or from a different source altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank warned that criminals typically ramp up activity as tax season approaches, with the sole aim of defrauding consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen many cases where fraudsters send bait communication through text, email, WhatsApp or phone calls,” said Standard Bank\u2019s Head of Fraud Operations, Marius le Roux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these tactics, fraudsters gain access to your banking profile, steal money and trick you into sending them money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using these tactics, fraudsters can gain access to your banking profile, steal your money, or trick you into sending them money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Big Four bank provided examples of common scams criminals use to target South African taxpayers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extortion and \u2018Secure Account\u2019 Scams<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Fraudsters typically contact you claiming that there’s a problem with your 2025 tax return and that you could face legal action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will often send fake documents that make their story seem real. \u201cThey may try to scare you so that you panic and follow their instructions,\u201d said Le Roux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After they believe that you are convinced, they will ask you to pay money to make the issue go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in other cases, they may give you a fake account number and say you owe money to SARS, or move your money to a “safe” account while investigating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The criminals often pretend to be working with the bank, the police, or other authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change of Banking Details<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Fraudsters can also send fake SARS banking details, stating that you owe money to this account. Because many people expect communication, these messages appear reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fraudsters will often state that if you pay the fraudulent bank account quickly, they will offer a discount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This focus on speed is an attempt by criminals to prevent taxpayers from verifying the details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fake messages with links and QR codes<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Another common trend is for fraudsters to send fake messages, with links, attachments or QR codes. These can be sent via email, SMS or WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These links, files or QR codes can also contain malicious software that can be downloaded onto one’s device, giving fraudsters access to one’s device and banking profile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes they redirect you to a fake SARS or Banking site, prompting you to capture sensitive information, such as your login credentials, One-Time-Pin, or card details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to protect yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Standard Bank provided a host of ways that South Africans can protect themselves from instances of fraud, such as: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Always stop and think before making a payment to someone you don\u2019t know. Speak to someone you trust first.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Your bank or official organisations can secure your money themselves. They won\u2019t ask you to move it to another account.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Always check banking details directly with the organisation before making a payment. For SARS payments, you may use the business directory offered on digital channels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Be careful of links, attachments and QR codes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The bank will never ask you to click a link or scan a code to access your account, approve payments, or update your information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThings are not always what they seem. Scams pretending to be from SARS are likely to increase, so customers need to stay alert,\u201d said Le Roux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    With tax season right around the corner, Standard Bank has warned South Africans about the rise of tax scams. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":856848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[499],"class_list":["post-863160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863160","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863160"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863253,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863160\/revisions\/863253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}