SARS: Tax refund scam

SARS: Tax refund scam

• 23 January 2025
• SARS Issues
• South African Accounting Academy

Summary:

SARS has warned the public to be on the alert for a new scam scam where taxpayers receive a communication indicating that they are eligible for a refund. A link is then provided, urging taxpayers to log in to their SARS eFiling account, to verify their banking details and complete the refund process, which then links to a fraudulent website.

Article:

Members of the public are randomly emailed with false “spoofed” emails made to look as if these emails were sent from SARS, but are in fact fraudulent emails aimed at enticing unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details.

Taxpayers are cautioned against actioning as advised in the communication received. Please do not click on any suspicious links and delete these messages.

SARS said to report or to get more information on scams, send an email to [email protected] or call the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 080 000 2870.

Taxpayers are urged to stay safe and vigilant, don’t click on any suspicious links or subscribe to ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes.

These emails that appear to be from a sars.gov.za e-mail address, indicating that taxpayers are eligible to receive tax or monetary benefits, or threatening some form of harm. These emails contain links to false forms and fake websites made to look like the “real thing”, but with the aim of fooling people into entering personal information such as bank account details which the criminals then extract and use fraudulently.

Please note these are scams and SARS 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 sms's.
• SARS does not send *.htm or *.html attachments.

Click here to download an example of the scam:

https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Docs/Scams/SARS-SCAM-373-Tax-refund-16-January-2025.pdf

Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:

• As an auditor, independent reviewer, accountant or tax practitioner, you need to be aware of the latest scams that appear to be from SARS.
• As a taxpayer, you also need to be aware of the latest scams that appear to be from SARS.

Relevance to Your Clients:

• As taxpayer, your clients also need to be aware of the latest scams that appear to be from SARS.

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