A number of new scams, spoofing communication that appears to be from various institutions, have been doing the rounds.
In a recent FSCA media release, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warns the public to be cautious of fraudulent messages from entities impersonating the FSCA. In one of the latest instances individuals using a fraudulent ‘FSCA COMMUNICATIONS’ gmail address claim to have tried to contact customers on suspicion of operating pyramid schemes due to irregular activity they have observed on their bank accounts. The recipient is then threatened with legal action or freezing of bank accounts, unless a fine of R200 000.00 is paid and the licence application is received. The FSCA notes that it will never send communication from a Gmail account, or any domain other than the FSCA domain. Any communication that is not sent from the FSCA domain must be regarded as not coming from the FSCA.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has also been at the receiving end of these scams. The latest scam has seen members of the public randomly contacted with false emails made to look like they were sent from SARS. The revenue service warned that these are in fact fraudulent emails aimed at enticing unsuspecting taxpayers to part with personal information such as bank account details.
But do you know how to identify a these emails? In a recent article, Farhad Rahaman of The Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA) provides some tips.
Click here to download the FSCA media release.
Click here to read more about these scams on the SARS website.
