The woman’s daughter, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said her mother went to withdraw her pension money on January 5, but she only received some of her money.
“A total of R310 has already been deducted from the R1 440 that she usually receives from the government,” said the daughter.
“Nothing like this has ever happened to her, so needless to say she got the shock of her life when she noticed some of the money was missing.
“I took the matter further and reported it to the Boksburg South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) branch, which referred us to the Germiston SASSA. We were then helped with the information regarding the fraud.
“Apparently R310 was spent on airtime and electricity, but my mother was not the one who made the transactions.”
“People who know of fraud should report the matter to the police because the government money is meant for the elderly not fraudsters,” said the daughter.
She pointed out that anyone who might come across fraud regarding pension money may call the SASSA Customer Care Centre on 0800 60 0160.
According to the Boksburg Police Station, a case of fraud has been opened. Investigations continue.
According to Nandi Mosia from SASSA, this was a case of an unauthorised deduction.
“The client did not give permission for their grant money to be used for whatever the deduction was aimed for, be it airtime or electricity,” said Mosia.
“In this situation, we urge beneficiaries to report to their nearest SASSA office to lodge a complaint about the unauthorised deduction.
“This complaint is then captured into a register and referred to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) to conduct investigations.
“If it is determined that the deduction was indeed unauthorised the deducted amount can be paid back.
“We encourage beneficiaries to report fraud as soon as its happens as we can only reimburse deductions no more than three months after the unauthorised deduction.”
