SARS Phone Calls...IMPORTANT

[sandras]

I used to run my business (when I was still working full time for another practice) with my cell phone and a g-mail account. Then I read (and it makes sense) that people don't put a lot of trust in a business if they don't have their own land line and email address. So, last week Wednesday I started adding my land line to all my makreting things.

So, my landline number has only been freely available for a week.

Monday afternoon the phone rings and it is a dude saying he's phoning from SARS, he needs to confirm my banking details for a VAT refund. I asked him for which business this refund is, thinking it might be for one of my old clients, since I don't have VAT clients at the moment. He says it's for my own business - SS Financial. So I ask him who he is and where he's phoning from, because I'm not registered for VAT, and also, I'm a sole propreitor registered under my own name (not a businessname) at SARS, so there is NO way anyone at SARS can possibly have this telephone number and my businessname linked.

So he went, oh sorry, I must have made a mistake and then put down the phone.

PLEASE, everyone, SARS will NEVER confirm bank details over the phone or per e-mail. NEVER. They are very strict on this, you have to take a copy of your ID with original proof of the bank account to a SARS branch. Even if you phone them to confrm your bank details, they aren't allowed to help you with this.

So whoever this guy was, he was definitely not calling from SARS

[Dave A]

So the SARS VAT refund scam is still doing the rounds. I wonder how seriously the police are trying to crack these fraud rings.

[Sieg]

Scams

When they call me, I give them the fictitious bank account details that I have pinned up to my notice board. [it is a standard Bank account! ]. I even give them the contact person at the bank!

I also ask them to "fax" me proof of the deposit. I give them a fictitious 086 fax number [which costs them money.]


Sieg