As the October 23 tax filing deadline approaches, South African taxpayers are being warned about the increasing threat of AI-powered scams. Experts say that convincing fake South African Revenue Service (SARS) messages, investment offers, and tax documents are becoming harder to distinguish from the real thing. This is due to the growing trust in Artificial Intelligence (AI) among South Africans, which is giving cyber criminals another tool to exploit.
According to research by KPMG and the University of Melbourne, 62% of South Africans surveyed were willing to trust AI, compared to a global average of 46%. Additionally, KnowBe4 research found that 86% of South African respondents agreed that deepfakes had become so realistic that it was harder to know what to trust. Experts warn that AI is making familiar fraud tactics more convincing, and scammers no longer need to rely on obvious warning signs such as poor grammar, fake logos, or unnatural voices.
Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & CISO advisor at KnowBe4 Africa, and Chris Norton, general manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Kaspersky, are warning taxpayers to be cautious. They advise verifying communications through official SARS channels before clicking links or sharing sensitive information. Collard notes that people tend to rate the risk accurately but rate themselves generously, thinking that bad things happen to other people.
Collard also warns against relying on AI chatbots for important financial decisions. She advises using these tools to understand concepts and formulate better questions, but not as an adviser. Norton says that the approaching tax deadline is creating another opportunity for scammers, with Kaspersky researchers identifying phishing websites designed to imitate SARS eFiling, as well as malicious attachments carrying names such as “Tax Returns Of RXX,XXX.XXX” and “Final_Assessment_Notification-2026-0X-0X.pdf”.
Norton notes that fake emails often carry phrases such as “Refund due” and “SARS Letter of demand” to persuade recipients to open attachments or follow instructions. He warns that by this point in the tax season, people are used to receiving messages about returns, assessments, and refunds, so an email like this may not immediately look out of place. SARS has also warned taxpayers about scams and phishing attempts during the 2026 filing season.
SARS has warned that scammers are using AI to create professional-looking email templates and fake refund notifications. The revenue service said it will never request passwords, one-time PINs, banking PINs, or eFiling login credentials through email, SMS, social media, or telephone. Norton advises taxpayers to be careful about what information they feed into AI services when dealing with tax matters.
As the deadline approaches, taxpayers are advised to access SARS eFiling and other official digital channels directly to check assessments, refunds, and tax information rather than clicking links in unexpected messages. Taxpayers should also be cautious about providing sensitive information to external services, and important tax information should be checked through trusted sources.
Key points
- AI-powered scams are making fake SARS messages harder to spot.
- Taxpayers are advised to verify communications through official SARS channels.
- SARS warns that scammers are using AI to create professional-looking email templates and fake refund notifications.
