This as the withdrawal of funds at ATMs has been suspended for the month of December.

The suspension of the service comes after the Postbank uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements on its system.

SASSA beneficiaries using the Postbank-issued SASSA gold cards are requested to withdraw their social grant monies at any retail outlets nationwide that provide the cashback functionality. These include Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer.

These SASSA grant recipients can also use the SASSA gold cards to make purchases at any place that accepts bank card transactions as the SASSA gold cards function fully within the national payments system similarly to any other bank card.

“In the recent months, Postbank has been experiencing a number of technical glitches that disrupted the smooth withdrawal of social assistance benefits.

“Following extensive investigations, we have now uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements determined to commit systematic ATM card fraud related crimes on Postbank payments using sophisticated modus operandi, which require further investigation.

“As a mitigating exercise, and in consultation with our partners following the resurgence of these criminal activities at the inception of the December payments, it has become necessary that Postbank suspends SASSA grant withdrawals at ATMs for those clients using the PostBank issued SASSA gold cards,” the Postbank said on Tuesday.

The Postbank has assured customers that a dedicated team of professionals, assisted by experienced external experts as well as law enforcement agencies, have been assigned to deal with this challenge.

Great progress has been made to close down all avenues used by these criminals.

“Postbank is aware of the impact that this change in payment channels will have on the social grant beneficiaries and other stakeholders, and we apologise for the inconvenience.

“Social Grant beneficiaries are also assured that the Postbank-issued SASSA gold cards are still valid and have not expired. Therefore, beneficiaries should not be misled into changing the cards unless if they wish to do so on their own accord,” the Postbank said.

Postbank will notify social grant beneficiaries when ATM transactions via the SASSA gold cards are available again.