The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has warned the residents of Temba in Hammanskraal and the surrounding areas to be vigilant of bogus individuals pretending to be agency officials who rob people of their much needed social grants. Sassa reported that these fraudsters then gave their victims un-issued Sassa cards and were targeting senior citizens who lived alone.
According to the marketing and communications manager of Sassa, Steve Mabona, the criminals’ modus operandi was to visit households during the day to defraud the elderly.
“These people often claim to be employed by our agency, saying they are conducting a survey of all elderly beneficiaries collecting their social grants at pay points and then they request to see an their (ID), Sassa card and secret pin,” he said.
It is reported that the bogus card scams had been issued mainly in the north-western townships of Tshwane, in particular in Temba, Stinkwater, New Eesterust, Soshanguve and Ga-Rankuwa.
Four cases have been reported at the Temba police station, Mabona said.
The suspects hand over an un-issued, stolen Sassa card to an unsuspecting victim and when the affected beneficiary goes to collect his/her social grant, he/she realises that the card does not work and the social grant has already been collected by the bogus Sassa officials.”
Mabona stated that, based on their information, the majority of the fraudulent transactions had occurred in the Pretoria CBD on Tuesday, 1 October. All the affected beneficiaries have since been issued with new, valid Sassa cards.
“We have also issued social relief of distress in the form of food vouchers to the affected elderly people,” he said.
Mabona reiterated that this was a scam and that community members should refrain from sharing their IDs, Sassa cards or secret pins with anyone, including the agency’s officials.
He also stated that the agency was currently conducting an internal investigation to find out exactly where the un-issued cards may have come from.
“We urge all victims to report any incidents to the police,” he said.
noweto@rekord.co.za
