Prevent fraud on Sassa cards

Margaret van der Merwe from Springs was shocked to learn she had insufficient funds in her South African Social Security Agent (Sassa) account.

She believes there is possible fraud involved on her account.

She went to a local Sassa outlet to withdraw her full grant on January 2, but could only draw about half of it.

According to her the outlet operator informed her she needs to draw a mini statement to see the activity on her account.

Her husband Willie van der Merwe says she was in shock when she noticed that only half of her grant money is left in her account.

Sassa spokesman Steve Mabona says records confirms that Margaret withdrew two separate amounts on January 2.

However, Margaret denies withdrawing money twice.

Her records show that she normally withdraws the full amount at the beginning of each month.

Mabona says in the event there are transactions performed in her account she is not aware of, she needs visit the Springs Police Station to complete an affidavit stating her suspicions and what exactly happened.

With the affidavit in hand Van der Merwe needs to then visit Sassa’s local office on the corner of Seventh Street and Sixth Avenue, central business district.

“During this process a dispute will be lodged and a Sassa official will investigate the incident,” says Mabona.

He concludes that beneficiaries should not give their cards and pin numbers to family members to withdraw money on their behalf.