The Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Albert Fritz, calls on all social grant recipients never to divulge their social grant details or pin numbers, whether over the phone or email, to anybody claiming to be from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
This comes after the MEC received tip-offs from the public regarding a scam involving a person falsely claiming to be an official from SASSA.
SASSA is a national entity run by the National Department of Social Development. The provincial DSD has no operational control over SASSA.
The scammer would claim to be offering a “R400 SASSA Christmas food hamper” in exchange for supposed ‘survey information’, which includes asking for the pin numbers to SASSA cards of social grant recipients.
The Office of the MEC has requested that the complainant report the incident to the South African Police Services (SAPS).
“We have also alerted officials from SASSA to this scam, and requested they launch an investigation into the matter too,” said the department’s spokesperson Sihle Ngobese.
The public can report any suspected social grant fraud and corruption to the SASSA hotline on 0800 60 10 11, or the DSD hotline on 0800 220 250
