The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has warned old age and disability grant beneficiaries to appoint trustworthy procurators to withdraw their social grants on their behalf at ATMs, post offices or at merchants.
This will prevent the withdrawal of their grants without their knowledge and approval.
The Mpumalanga SASSA said it has discovered that old age and disability grant beneficiaries are making the mistake of disclosing their PIN codes to relatives to assist in collecting their social grants.
“Revealing a PIN code to an untrustworthy person could allow that person to withdraw the social grant payment and cause undue hardship,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
Beneficiaries are advised to protect and safeguard their PIN codes by not writing their PIN on the card, not giving their PIN number to anyone over the phone and when making a purchase they should not let a store clerk enter their PIN number.
The agency said beneficiaries should also not ask for assistance from strangers at ATMs when withdrawing money.
SASSA encouraged beneficiaries to report any of these acts at the nearest police station. This will help protect them from criminal activities.
For more information and tips they can contact the SASSA hotline on 0800 60 10 11 from 8am to 4pm during weekdays. – SAnews.gov.za
