THE South African Revenue Service (Sars) has warned of a new phishing scam doing the rounds.

According to the revenue service, members of the public are randomly SMSed a ‘letter of demand’ made to look as if was sent from Sars, but in fact includes fraudulent links aimed at enticing unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details.

“We’ve created a section of the website where we will post updates of any scams we have heard about. Similarly, we would like you to tell us about any emails you think are scams or phishing.

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“To report or to get more information on phishing, send an email to phishing@sars.gov.za or call the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 2870,” Sars said in a statement.

According to Sars other scam or phishing examples include emails that appear to be from returns@sars.co.za or refunds@sars.co.za indicating that taxpayers are eligible to receive tax refunds.

“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,” the revenue service said.

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