SARS Issues Urgent Fraud Warning to South African Taxpayers

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has warned taxpayers about a new email phishing scam designed to steal money and personal information by posing as official SARS correspondence.

🚨 New “Settlement Notification” Scam

The latest scam follows a familiar pattern — taxpayers receive an email appearing to be from SARS, titled “Settlement Notification”, which threatens legal action, penalties, and fines if payment is not made by a certain date.

The fraudulent emails include a PDF attachment prompting recipients to make payments into fake bank accounts. The messages closely imitate real SARS communications, making them appear legitimate.

SARS said this scam is part of an ongoing wave of fraud attempts that intensify during tax season, which ends for non-provisional taxpayers on 20 October.

⚠️ Common Scam Variations

SARS noted that the latest scam joins a growing list of fraudulent messages, including:

• Threats of court summonses or blacklisting

• Notices of outstanding payments or refunds

• Claims of FICA-related payment delays

• Alerts of pending SARS audits

• “Urgent Settlement Notices” demanding immediate action

Examples of these scams can be viewed on the official SARS scams and phishing webpage.

💡 How to Stay Safe

SARS urged taxpayers not to click on links or open attachments in suspicious emails and to be extremely cautious when making payments.

Legitimate SARS payments can only be made through:

• SARS eFiling or the SARS MobiApp, or

• EFT payments via your bank’s pre-loaded SARS beneficiary list (all listed as “SARS-”).

When using eFiling, the system sends a payment request directly to your bank, which the taxpayer must authorise — SARS will never send bank account details via email.

🧠 SARS’ Official Advice for Spotting Scams

• Do not open or respond to emails from unknown senders.

• SARS will never request banking, card, or login details via email, SMS, or post.

• SARS will never send hyperlinks to external websites, even banks.

• SARS will never send .htm or .html attachments.

• SARS will not ask for credit or debit card details.

• Beware of fake SMS messages or urgent payment requests.

If you suspect fraud or phishing, report it immediately to: phishing@sars.gov.za

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