SASSA beneficiaries to withdraw from retail shops in December
Crime leads to Postbank not being able to assist with cash payments
Postbank advises SASSA grants beneficiaries and the general public that withdrawals at ATMs using the Postbank-issued SASSA gold cards have been suspended for December only.
SASSA grants beneficiaries using the Postbank-issued gold cards are requested to withdraw their benefits from retail merchants.
In recent months, Postbank has been experiencing several technical glitches that disrupted the smooth withdrawal of social assistance benefits.
Extensive investigations uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements committing systematic ATM card fraud-related crimes on Postbank payments.
They are using a sophisticated modus operandi which requires further investigation.
As a mitigating exercise and in consultation with their partners following the resurgence of these criminal activities at the inception of the December payments, it has become necessary that Postbank suspends SASSA grants withdrawal at ATMs for those clients using the PostBank-issued SASSA gold cards.
SASSA beneficiaries using the Postbank-issued SASSA gold cards are requested to withdraw their social grants monies at any retail outlets nationwide that provide the cashback functionality. This includes Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer.
SASSA grant recipients can also use the SASSA gold cards to make purchases at any place that accepts bank card transactions, as the SASSA gold cards function fully within the national payments system similar to any other bank card.
A dedicated team of professionals, assisted by experienced external experts as well as law enforcement agencies have been assigned to deal with this challenge and great progress has been made to close down all avenues used by these criminals.
Social grant beneficiaries are also assured that the gold cards are still valid and have not expired. Beneficiaries should not be misled into changing their cards unless they wish to do so on their own accord.
Postbank will notify social grants beneficiaries when ATM transactions via the gold cards are available again.
