Early Warning: New email scam targeting South African taxpayers.

SARS has warned the public about a new email scam. The scam is an email and emanates from diverse sources or names e.g. “@gov.za”, making it seem as if it comes from a legitimate government email address.

The email refers to eFiling Income Tax assessment and tax compliance obligations and contains links to a “Fiscal Assessment Report.” In the email taxpayers are urged to review the report as it relates to their personal tax obligations. This is yet another example of phishing where emails mimic companies or authoritative government bodies, and SARS has warned against opening the links in these emails.

With an increase in scams, SARS  has now created an updated webpage that shares information about new scams that exploit its name for fraudulent purposes. In addition, if taxpayers doubt the legitimacy of an email which appears to come from the tax authority, SARS has requested that these emails be sent to phishing@sars.gov.za

SARS has shared the following guidelines to protect taxpayers from falling victim to these scams:

• Do not open or respond to emails from unknown sources.
• Beware of emails that ask for personal, tax, banking, or e-Filing details (login credentials, passwords, pins, credit/debit card information, etc).
• SARS will never request your banking details in any communication that you receive via post, email, or SMS. However, for the purpose of telephonic engagement and authentication purposes, SARS will verify your personal details. Importantly, SARS will not send you any hyperlinks to other websites – even those of banks.
• Beware of fake SMSs.
• SARS does not send attachments ending with “.htm” or “.html”.
• SARS will never ask for your credit card details.When responding to an email, always check the email address of the sender.

You assume that you are replying to a trusted email address, but you may be communicating with someone using a fake Gmail address. When in doubt, always call the person or call centre to verify the email.

Melessia Naidoo

Fund Accountant

References

1. Scams and phishing (2023) South African Revenue Service. Available at: https://www.sars.gov.za/targeting-tax-crime/scams-and-phishing/ (Accessed: 26 March 2024).

2. Sars warns of new scam targeting taxpayers in South Africa. Available at: https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/757095/sars-warns-of-new-scam-targeting-taxpayers-in-south-africa (Accessed: 26 March 2024).