Beware the scammer

SARS has issued a warning of various email and SMS scams that are doing the rounds, and we implore you to take caution when receiving any information regarding your tax status, no matter how legitimate the communication may seem. These fraudulent emails and SMSes are aimed at enticing taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details. For the full warning issued by SARS please click here or see below the main points:

Taxpayers should take note of the following:

• Do not open or respond to emails from unknown sources.
• Beware of emails that ask for personal, tax, banking, and eFiling 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 false SMSes.
• SARS does not send *.htm or *.html attachments.
• SARS will never ask for your credit card details.