Individual taxpayers in South Africa are in the middle of a tax season which runs from July 15, 2024 to October 21, 2024.
As people are sorting out their taxes, they are also vulnerable to criminals that are targeting them through tax scams including one woman from Gqeberha.
The woman received a letter that was supposedly from the South African Revenue Services (Sars) stating she has an overdue unsettled payment of R1,602 that needed to be settled immediately.
The letter also offered bank account numbers for five different banks including Absa, FNB, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Investec Bank where the the woman could pay the money.
According to the letter, the woman had until August 5, 2024 to pay off the amount.
The letter said that if the woman did pay within the stipulated time frame there would be legal action as well as further penalties being imposed by Sars and she would not be able to proceed with her tax return filing until further notice.
According to the woman, the letter was in the spam folder of her email. She did find the letter to be suspicious because the letter did not have her name or her tax number.
The women was about to pay the money but before she could do so, she contacted a friend. The friend then reached out to an accountant who said that the letter was fake.
The accountant said that the payment reference is not what Sars uses and the language used in the letter is not from Sars.
IOL reached out to Sars to confirm whether letter was fake or not. After sending the letter to Sars spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko, Sibeko confirmed that the letter was fake.
“This is fraudulent,” Sibeko said.
Sibeko also said that taxpayers should take note that emails from Sars will always come from an email address that ends with gov.za instead of the org that is found in the letter.
IOL Business