The police have arrested 11 suspects linked to a large-scale fraud scheme involving ghost SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) cards, which defrauded the grant system of over R260-million meant for beneficiaries.
Andile Tshona, the Sassa senior manager for media relations, confirmed that the 11th suspect was apprehended following an extensive investigation. The suspect surrendered.
“Looking at the number of arrests that have been made so far, it does look like a syndicate because it is not just Sassa officials that have been arrested.
“If there are more arrests to be made, Sassa will be more than pleased, but we will leave it at the hands of the law enforcement agencies to do their work,” said Tshona.
The scheme, which had been running for an undisclosed period of time, involved the creation of fake beneficiary accounts linked to fraudulent Sassa cards.
External hacking cannot be confirmed
Tshona explained that the matter is still at a sensitive stage and did not want to interfere with police work.
When asked whether the suspects have inside access to the Sassa payment system or if an external hacking system is involved, he said the matter could not yet be confirmed.
“Eight of the 11 are Sassa officials, and certainly they know the ins and outs of Sassa. At this stage, we cannot confirm if there was any external hacking or not. That is part of the ongoing investigative work by the police.
Tshona could not confirm whether specific grants were targeted or if the theft was spread across, saying the investigation was still ongoing and more details would be revealed in due course.
The group, which includes eight agency employees, is charged with over 1 000 counts of fraud.
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