Fake news: Sassa is not running a Covid-19 promotion

In this tough economy where the price of pretty much everything is going up, including petrol, which has seen motorists rushing to the petrol stations to fill up before midnight, a R95,000 reward from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) would be welcomed.

It yet another scam targetting South Africans, a message purporting to be from Sassa has been circulating, informing victims of a reward from the agency.

“Congratulations, you have [been] rewarded R95,000 from Sassa Covid-19 for 2022 yearly promotion. Your ref number is SA 019. Call Cindy or John to claim,” reads the message.

The agency has distanced itself from the message.

“Sassa warns the public against the below fake information. The agency only provides social grants and distances itself from any money related competitions,” said the agency on Tuesday.

Last month, Sassa slammed an announcement claiming it had approved the payment of R700 grant payments to all citizens of South Africa as fake news.

This after a statement with a Sassa logo was released by an unknown source calling on South African citizens to apply for an additional R700 grant.

“55,000 citizens received R350 fund grant in 2020/2021 due to Covid-19. In 2022, over 375,000 citizens will received R700 payment, this is part of Sassa 2022 budget to support all South African citizens.

“Application has begun and citizens that have applied have started getting their R700 payments. Only South African citizens can apply,” read the statement.

But Sassa said it was not offering any additional R700 grant apart from the ones already announced by the agency.