SARS Warns Taxpayers of New "Tax Settlement Notification" Scam
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued a public warning urging taxpayers to be on high alert for a new and convincing scam currently doing the rounds. Fraudsters are sending emails disguised as official SARS correspondence in an attempt to trick taxpayers into making payments to fraudulent bank accounts and handing over sensitive personal information.
How the Scam Works:
The scam involves an email with an attachment labelled “Tax Settlement Notification.” The document demands same-day payment of an outstanding amount and threatens the recipient with legal consequences, including legal proceedings and additional penalties, should payment not be made immediately.
Crucially, the bank account details included in these communications do not belong to SARS. The emails are “spoofed” to closely resemble genuine SARS correspondence, both in appearance and tone, with the sole purpose of pressuring unsuspecting taxpayers into either disclosing personal and banking details or paying money directly into accounts controlled by the scammers.
Our Advice to Clients
If you receive a communication of this nature, do not act on the instructions it contains.
We strongly recommend the following:
01
Do not click on any links contained in the email or SMS.
02
Delete the message once you are confident it is fraudulent.
03
Take the time to verify that any communication purporting to be from SARS is genuine before taking any action.
04
Where there is any uncertainty, contact Middel & Partners or your tax practitioners) before responding or making payment.
Protecting Yourself from Scams and Phishing
SARS has reiterated several important points to help taxpayers identify fraudulent communications:
01
Do not open or respond to emails from unknown or unverified sources.
02
Be cautious of any email or SMS requesting personal, tax, banking, or eFiling details.
03
SARS will never send hyperlinks directing you to other websites.
04
SARS will never request your credit card details.
SARS has also published a short tutorial on how to identify scams, which can be viewed here.
A full and regularly updated list of known scams is available on SARS’s Scams and Phishing webpage. Should you have any doubt about the legitimacy of a communication, you can forward it to SARS’s IT security team at phishing@sars.gov.za.
For further guidance, SARS has made the following videos available:
Protect Yourself from Scams and Phishing
Protect Your eFiling Login Details
An example of the latest fraudulent document can be viewed here.
Need Assistance?
If you are uncertain about the authenticity of any correspondence claiming to be from SARS, or if you have concerns about your tax affairs, please do not hesitate to contact our team at Middel & Partners. We are happy to help you verify communications and ensure your tax matters are handled correctly and securely.
