Eskom on Monday warned the public of a new ”refund” scam where criminals use Eskom and South African Revenue Service (Sars) letterheads to defraud large companies, businesses and individuals.
Eskom spokesperson Oupa Mhlongo said: ”Scam operators use Eskom’s name and forge letterheads stating that an overpayment has been made into an account and request that the money be refunded.”
Mhlongo said the deposits are made with false cheques. False deposit slips are forwarded to people as proof that a deposit was made. False internet transactions are also created.
”As part of claiming the refund, the perpetrators would supply their banking details. These are actual accounts that are opened a few days before the transaction takes place using false identity documents.”
Money transferred to these fraudulent accounts is withdrawn within 30 minutes by means of an internet transaction and transferred to various bank accounts, said Mhlongo.
Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay urged people who received letters from the two entities asking them to refund money deposited to verify the letter with the service. ”We received complaints from taxpayers and we warn that these are not authentic Sars documents. They must be verified.”
He said the amount of money the fraudsters ask to be ”deposited back” into an account ranges from R50 000 to R190 000. ”We are investigating but I don’t know why people fall for this because if someone tells you to pay back R50 000, surely you have to verify it first.”
Meanwhile, Absa Bank spokesperson Errol Smith said the ”refund scam” is a rehash of an old scam called the ”deposit-slip scam”. However, that scam targeted small-business owners, and fraudsters managed to get amounts of about R3 000 from people. In the latest scam, businesses are defrauded of vast amounts of money.
Smith urged customers to check with Eskom or Sars and to ask the bank to check the validity of cheque deposits. — Sapa