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Tax Savvy Tips with TGC: SARS Scam Warning!

💼 This tax season, fraudulent messages and emails have been doing the rounds as part of typical phishing attempts, but trying to get one over taxpayers by focusing on new topics. Trust filing season is kicking off, and with SA’s Individual Tax filing season drawing to a close –SARS has issued two new tax scam alerts urging taxpayers to watch out for fraudsters, including an “outstanding amount” scam and a “delayed payment” scam.

✍️ The Glass Castle takes a closer look at these two phishing scams doing the rounds:

  1. “Outstanding Amount” Scam
    Taxpayers are notified from a spoofed email account that they owe SARS an outstanding amount – that needs to be paid within 48 hours, threatening the user with blacklisting should they not comply. The mail cleverly uses SARS logos, asks/encourages taxpayers to “click a link”, which then goes to a fraudulent website.
  2. “Delayed Payment” Scam
    This scam also comes from spoofed email addresses notifying taxpayers that there is a “payment pending” from SARS, which has been delayed until attached “FICA documents” are reviewed. It then provides a link to a suspicious ‘pdf’, which is downloadable.

🧠 SARS has urged taxpayers to steer clear of clicking any links in these emails, or reacting to any other suspicious phishing-style messages, and to report them to its fraud department. The Glass Castle also warns their clients to beware of emails, SMSs, or calls, asking for personal, tax, banking or eFiling details. SARS, or any reputable financial institution, will never send you hyperlinks to other/external websites, or send unsolicited documents that weren’t requested or needed.

These latest scams join these other “classics” we’ve all seen before:

  • Threats of SARS issuing “court summonses against taxpayers”;
  • Threats of SARS “blacklisting taxpayers”;
  • Threats of SARS issuing “stop orders on accounts”;
  • Notice of correspondence relating to “solar/backup power systems/renewable energy”;
  • Notice of “outstanding amounts owed to taxpayers”;
  • Notice of “outstanding amounts owed to SARS”;
  • Notice of “delayed payments pending FICA reviews”.

🎯 Examples of these scams and more can be seen on SARS’ scams page. Stay scam-savvy with The Glass Castle!