Scammers abound as tax season starts

Friday July 7 will mark the start of the tax season in SA and while businesses and individuals prepare to file their taxes, cybercriminals are also gearing up to steal people’s personal information to scam them. 

According to the South African Revenue Service (Sars), the latest scam doing the rounds is in the form of emails being sent to Sars employees with the caption “Internal Communication from Dirco”. 

In the email, the scammers urge recipients of the letter to click a link in order to confirm their identity. In this link, the recipient would have to share their Sars email address as well as their passwords. The scammers also warn the recipients to “under no circumstances to be discussed with Sars colleagues”. 

“...Furthermore, Sars has a role in administering laws that are not necessarily related to tax and customs but are essential to protect the South African economy, its for this reason that Sars work from time to time with SAPS to stomp out Corruption and identifying SARS employees who is guilty of this crime,” a part of the email reads before an identity confirmation link is given together with false contact details of an “SAPS Lieutenant”. 

Other scams include SMSes and emails with suspicious links written “eFiling returns complete”, “statement of account request” and “final demand letter”, messages about viewing account arrears, as well as a telegram group about tax refunds

Sars urges taxpayers to not click any of the links, which form part of scamming known as phishing through which scammers deceive targeted people to reveal their personal information.

“Please do not click on any suspicious links and delete these messages. If in doubt, always visit our Scams & Phishing webpage, where an example of this latest scam is published,” Sars said. 

Sars further provided ways in which taxpayers can protect themselves from cybercriminals. 

“Be alert to possible identity theft if you receive a notice or letter from Sars that states that more than one tax return has been filed in your name, you have a balance due, refund offset or have had collection actions taken against you for a year you did not file a tax return, or Sars records indicate you received a salary from an employer that you don’t work for. If you receive a letter/email or fax claiming to be from Sars, informing you that there has been a payment error and you have been refunded incorrectly.

"The criminal requests you to deposit the “overpayment” into a bank account or if you receive an email requesting eFiling details (login details, passwords, pins, credit/debit card information, etc).” 

Taxpayers can report suspicious links or activities by filling in the suspicious activity report on the Sars website, calling the Sars contact centre on 0124227435, contacting the SARS fraud and anti-corruption line on 0800002870 or visiting their nearest Sars branch to verify the information. 

The tax season will end at 8pm on October 23.