A TAXING TIME

SAICA alerts mense to be extra cautious for SARS scammers

- 

THE 2025 tax season has opened, and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) has urged taxpayers and registered tax practitioners to be on the lookout for scams and fraudulent schemes targeting the process.

The skelms never stop! Criminal networks are pretending to be South African Revenue Services (SARS) officials and mimicking official correspondence to con unsuspecting individuals.

There seems to be different types of scams; those designed to trick taxpayers into making payments or disclosing sensitive banking information and those intended to manipulate eFiling profiles or submit false data in order to extract refunds.

According to SAICA these schemes range from basic phishing attempts to sophisticated fraud using remote access tools to gain control of devices or even biometric data through video calls.

"Fraudsters gain access to profiles and redirect refunds to their own bank account by changing bank and other details on the profile," explained Somaya Khaki, SAICA lead for tax advocacy (administrative law).

Here are some common methods used by scammers:

■eFiling profile hijacking: Fraudsters access taxpayer profiles and alter bank details to intercept refunds.

■Phishing via email or SMS: Fake messages impersonating SARS request personal or banking details, or contain malicious links that harvest user information.