The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has revealed that over 70,000 beneficiaries did not receive their social grants last week due to suspicious fraudulent activities detected in their accounts.
Sassa’s spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi, explained that the issue was brought to their attention by the Auditor General, prompting an investigation into certain payments with apparent irregularities.
Letsatsi stated, “This matter was basically picked up by the Auditor General that there are some payments which are made to certain numbers which have got some suspicious elements. In this instance, you would find that there is an increase suddenly of people opening bank accounts, targeting one bank account. When we investigate, we find that the real beneficiary, when they come to withdraw the money month-end, there is no money because it has been taken by fraudsters.”
In response to the detected fraudulent activities, Sassa reached out to the affected beneficiaries, urging them to verify their accounts. However, a significant number did not adhere to the call, leading to the suspension of grant payments for those accounts.
Over 74 000 deceased recipients wrongly paid by SASSA
