Social grant beneficiaries are open to abuse when handing out their SASSA cards. Social grant beneficiaries should not use their social grants and payment cards to obtain loans, and then hand over these cards as guarantee for repayment.

Two men, aged 21 and 17-years-old, were apprehended at a garage for South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) card fraud on Friday, 5 June. The pair was spotted withdrawing cash using different SASSA cards at an ATM by a CCPO guard, who called for assistance. They were found in possession of sixteen (16) SASSA cards and R16 000 cash, for which they could not account for.

They were detained at Amanzimtoti police station and appeared in court on Monday, 8 June, charged for contravention of the National Credit Act.

Sassa KZN welcomed the arrest of the two men. “We subscribe to a zero tolerance approach pertaining to fraud and corruption and are satisfied with the increase in number of arrests and convictions related to social grants fraud. We believe this will be a deterrent to all those aspiring to defraud the system,” said KZN executive manager, Themba Matlou.

Matlou urged social grant beneficiaries to not use their social grants and payment cards to obtain loans, and cede their cards as guarantees for repayment. “We are working closely with law enforcement agencies to remedy and curb the illegal handling of payment cards and documents by moneylenders. We further request all social grant beneficiaries to protect their cards, not give them to anyone else, and under no circumstances divulge their PIN to anyone, as this is the key to the account and must be protected at all times.”

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