Sassa beneficiaries can lose everything to card scams
Financial products are sold to social grant beneficiaries without them understanding the full implications of what they are agreeing to.
Sassa issued the following warning in December 2016, “Social grant beneficiaries have been inundated with text messages urging them to obtain new cards which are green in colour before January 2017. SASSA will never communicate with its beneficiaries through SMS and beneficiaries are warned not to respond to any SMS that these imposters are sending to them.
“Beneficiaries should be on the lookout for people requesting their personal and card details pretending to be from SASSA. SASSA conducts its business from its own offices and beneficiaries should not accept invitations to any other office. The second thing that beneficiaries should be aware of is that the SASSA card is not green in colour. The SASSA card will never be replaced by a card that is green in colour.
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“The danger of responding to these scams is that beneficiaries could be stripped of their cash, or unusual deductions which they never authorised would come off their grants in the near future. Beneficiaries should make sure that they do not give their personal details or card details to strangers because it can also create identity theft. Once a criminal syndicate has your personal details, they can commit fraud using your name.”
In some cases, financial products are sold to social grant beneficiaries without them understanding the full implications of what they are agreeing to. When the grant is paid, the loan repayments for products like pre-paid airtime come off before the beneficiary can access the grant, then the beneficiary complains to SASSA.
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SASSA wishes to stress that the only direct deduction from a social grant which is permitted is a deduction for funeral policy premiums which is managed under Regulation 26 (A) of the Social Assistance Act 2004.
SASSA wants to reiterate that it does not provide loans, funeral insurance, pre-paid products or any financial services.
“We provide social grants which are intended to provide a financial support for those who have zero or very little income, to ensure that they have the means to provide the basics for their survival. Anything which erodes the value of the social grant is not supported by SASSA in any way. The public is advised to contact SASSA on 0800 60 10 11 or its Facebook and Twitter pages if uncertain about anything.”
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Do you have any concerns or complaints about Sassa. Tell us: whatsapp 079 256 7570 or email estella@caxton.co.za
