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  • keyboard_arrow_rightSARS issues urgent alert over AI-powered tax refund phishing scam

SARS issues urgent alert over AI-powered tax refund phishing scam

By Zuko Komisa

Image: SARS
  • Fraudsters are using AI to generate sophisticated email and SMS tax refund scams.
  • Phishing links direct targets to realistic fake sites to steal banking and login details.
  • The revenue service will never request PINs, passwords, or banking details via links or unsolicited messages.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued an urgent warning regarding a sophisticated scam attempting to mislead taxpayers through fraudulent SMSs and emails.

Scammers are luring targets with promises of tax refunds, directing them to fake websites designed to extract sensitive personal and banking information.

Crucially, the revenue collector highlighted that cybercriminals are leveraging modern tools to make their communications appear genuine.

“SARS said that scammers are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate professional-looking email templates that are harder to identify as fraudulent.”

Messages often appear to originate from address handles like [email protected] or [email protected].

SARS reiterated that it will never request passwords, one-time PINs (OTPs), banking credentials, or credit card information via email, SMS, or social media. It also warned against opening attachments with .htm or .html extensions and stressed that official communications never include hyperlinks to external websites.

If you receive a suspicious message, delete and block it immediately. Taxpayers can report phishing attempts to [email protected], verify current scams on the official SARS website, or contact the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 2870.

Additionally, members of the public are urged to use only official SARS channels and ensure any tax practitioner they engage is registered with SARS and a Recognised Controlling Body.

READ NEXT: SARS Commissioner reflects on record-breaking R2 trillion net revenue collection

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    THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT FORMS PART OF KAYA 959’S TERMS OF USE POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY TERM OF THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT, YOU MUST CEASE YOUR ACCESS OF THIS WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY. 

    POPIA Act – To promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies; to introduce certain conditions so as to establish minimum requirements for the processing of personal information; to provide for the establishment of an Information Regulator to exercise certain powers and to perform certain duties and functions in terms of this Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000; to provide for the issuing of codes of conduct; to provide for the rights of persons regarding unsolicited electronic communications and automated decision making; to regulate the flow of personal information across the borders of the Republic; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

    RECOGNISING THAT—

    • section 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides that everyone has the right to privacy;
    • the right to privacy includes a right to protection against the unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information;
    • the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights;

    AND BEARING IN MIND THAT—

    • consonant with the constitutional values of democracy and openness, the need for economic and social progress, within the framework of the information society, requires the removal of unnecessary impediments to the free flow of information, including personal information;

    AND IN ORDER TO—

    • regulate, in harmony with international standards, the processing of personal information by public and private bodies in a manner that gives effect to the right to privacy subject to justifiable limitations that are aimed at protecting other rights and important interests,
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    1.1.“Personal Information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, identifiable, existing juristic person, including all information as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. 

    1.2  Parliament assented to POPIA on 19 November 2013. The commencement date of section 1, Part A of Chapter 5, section 112 and section 113 was 11 April 2014. The commencement date of the other sections was 1 July 2020 (with the exception of section 110 and 114(4). The President of South Africa has proclaimed the POPI commencement date to be 1 July 2020.

     
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