With tax season in full swing, scammers are pulling out all the stops in attempt to swindle victims out of funds, personal information and more. A large number of phishing reports have been brought to the attention of SARS, who has duly responded. Phishing is a scam WhatsApp, SMS or e-mail that attempts to steal your money, or your identity, by getting you to reveal personal information such as credit card numbers, bank information, or passwords. You will often be redirected to websites that pretend to be legitimate. In the case of SARS phishing scams, members of the public are randomly sent an SMS or e-mail with false content, often made to look as if these e-mails were sent from SARS. These are in fact fraudulent e-mails aimed at enticing unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details.

SARS has issued a warning to the public to refrain from opening or responding to e-mails from unknown sources, even if they seem threatening. Beware of e-mails that ask for personal, tax, banking and eFiling details such as login credentials, passwords, PINs, and credit or debit card information, etc. SARS will never request your banking details in any communication that you receive via post, e-mail 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. In addition, SARS does not send *.htm or *.html attachments. Lastly, SARS will never ask for your credit card details.

To report or to get more information on phishing, please send an email to phishing@sars.gov.za or call the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 2870.