SARS catches phishing scam on its system

THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) has detected phishing scams on its system where changes have been made to practitioners and/or taxpayers’ eFiling profiles, in an attempt to defraud the entity.

Taxpayer’s details are changed to divert funds and submit fraudulent tax returns to generate funds.  

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“SARS takes all necessary steps to mitigate security breaches of our information systems and there is no evidence of the SARS systems being hacked, instead they remain secure,” said SARS Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter.

In the past week, SARS has implemented several changes to its system to increase security such as a process to advise tax practitioners when their access to taxpayer/client profiles are removed, as well as an enhanced personal income tax and eFiling registration process, and more.

“Tax practitioners are urged not to share their profile credentials within their practices or companies. Practices must routinely review these credentials with staff, especially in the instance where employment is revoked,” said Kieswetter.

The public can report incidents of fraudulent or unauthorised changes of eFiling profiles to the SARS anti-corruption and fraud hotline on 0800 00 2870.

Kieswetter urged whistle-blowers to refrain from using social media to report incidents.

“Let me leave no one in doubt about SARS’ capacity and capability to deal a massive blow to those hell-bent on these criminal activities. This is no idle threat, be warned,” he said.