SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter has warned fraudsters who have an intention to defraud the institution and taxpayers.
In a statement, Kieswetter said these fraudulent activities were carried out by individuals who were gaining access to eFiling profiles through phishing or other nefarious scams to change a legitimate taxpayer’s bank details to divert refunds. The fraudsters also submitted fraudulent tax returns to generate refunds.
“SARS takes all necessary steps to mitigate security breaches of our information systems. and there is no evidence of them being hacked. They remain secure,” he said.
“In the past week, several changes were implemented to augment the integrity of the SARS systems. These changes include a process to advise tax practitioners when their access to taxpayer or client profiles are removed, as well as an enhanced personal income tax and eFiling registration process, among others. They were done to make it difficult for criminal elements to obtain sensitive information and then perpetrate fraud,” he said.
Kieswetter said that to safeguard eFiling profiles, tax practitioners were urged to ensure that credentials were not shared within their practices or companies.
“All user access within practices or companies must be routinely reviewed. Where required, employee access should be revoked, particularly when they leave. The public is urged to always be alert for phishing scams that call for the sharing of sensitive identity and banking details,” he said.
“Let me leave no one in doubt about SARS’ capacity and capability to deal a massive blow to those hell-bent on these criminal activities. Working with other law enforcement agencies, SARS will leave no stone unturned to hunt and find these criminals. This is no idle threat, be warned.”
He said incidents of fraudulent or unauthorised changes can be reported to SARS anti-corruption and fraud hotline on 0800 00 2870.
He also urged taxpayers and tax practitioners not to use social media platforms to report such incidents, or disclose sensitive information.
