The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has voiced its concern following an advertisement of on Facebook by a man who claims to be "selling" Sassa cards.
"Sassa and the South African Post Office are currently working with the police to get to the bottom of this matter and are following leads that should result in the arrest of what seems to be the mastermind behind this scam," Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said in a statement on Tuesday.
This follows an advertisement on Facebook in which one Thabiso Cele is offering to sell Sassa cards on the Facebook group "Ballito Jobs".
The cards are offered at prices ranging from R600 to R1 200 and claims that buyers would receive R400 per month or R1 400 per month respectively.
'Worthless'
The ad even contains a cellphone number to arrange the transaction.
News24 attempted to contact "Thabiso" but was unsuccessful.
"These stolen cards were immediately deactivated and are worthless, so the public is warned not to be tempted to try and buy them as they are useless," Sassa's acting CEO, Abraham Mahlangu, warned.
He added that "no grants can be drawn from the stolen cards and anyone buying them stands to lose out… if caught, [you] may be charged with possession of stolen property".
"Beneficiaries are reminded that Sassa services are free and not for sale. They are also advised to refrain from sending their ID numbers, PINs and Sassa card numbers to strangers as these are part of the scams to defraud them."
Sassa said that selling its cards was illegal and criminal.
"Beneficiaries are urged to report such incidents to the police or alert Sassa.
"Sassa officials will never ask for money to issue a Sassa card. Beneficiaries are reminded to keep their PINs secret and not to disclose their card and ID numbers at all," Letsatsi said.
Sassa said beneficiaries of social grants needed to be extra vigilant as there were many fraudsters who target the innocent and vulnerable.
"Beneficiaries should call Sassa on 0800 60 1011 whenever they are offered any service relating to social grants for money, no matter how little the charge could be.
"Sassa is not involved in any other business except the payment of social grants," Letsatsi said.
KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
- FOLLOW News24 on Twitter