The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has called fake news on claims the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant applicants will receive R700 until March.

This is after an advert was circulated on social media urging people to apply for the grant.

“In 2022, over 575,000 citizens will receive R700 payment. This is part of Sassa 2022 budget to support all South Africa (sic) citizens. Applications has began and citizen (sic) that have applied have started getting their R700 payments.” read the post.

Sassa moved to clear the air, warning applicants to be vigilant.

“Please note the advert is fake and does not come from Sassa. No additional grant type is offered apart from the ones announced by Sassa,” said the agency.

It is the latest in a series of scams that have mushroomed online in recent weeks. Last week, the City of Cape Town warned residents and jobseekers about fraudsters offering fake employment offers.

Scammers are said to be sending messages to desperate jobseekers to meet them at the Civic Centre and bring money to secure a job before they are redirected to an internet cafe to create Gmail accounts to which “medical certificates” will be sent.

The city’s mayoral committee member for corporate services Theresa Uys condemned the criminality and warned jobseekers to be vigilant.

“I urge new graduates and jobseekers to be extra vigilant while searching for employment opportunities. The city would never ask for money from those applying for vacancies, internships and temporary work opportunities,” she said.

“I want to encourage those who have applied for jobs to keep safe the reference number and title of the job they have applied for. Should someone phone or contact you, ask the caller for these specific details. If they cannot give you these details, you should know it is a bogus call.”

The University of KwaZulu-Natal warned prospective students to be wary of scammers conducting registration for courses that no longer exist.

The university said it had been made aware of a group of individuals saying to be administrators of two programmes the university discontinued years ago.

“The university’s primary healthcare programme and bachelor of nursing advanced practice programme were discontinued a few years ago.

“Any information presented by any person around the programmes should be regarded as a scam. Members of the public are urged not to become victims of this unacceptable and criminal activity conducted in the name of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.”

Source: TimesLIVE