
Image : SASSA
SASSA admits its digital grant system has been breached.
More worrying, is that the Social Security Agency first picked this up late in 2023.
Last week, we brought you an exposé of a potentially disastrous data breach.
In it, two first-year computer science students uncover tens of thousands of fraudulent Social Relief of Distress Grant applications.
The SRD grant is supposed to relieve the unemployed from the tough economic climate.
Yet, scores of South Africans are unable to access the service because their ID numbers have been stolen by unscrupulous criminals.
Brenton Van Vrede heads up SASSA’s Grant Administration branch.
He confirms the findings of Joel Cedras and Veer Gosai.
Van Vrede says SASSA has jacked up its verification systems in recent months.
The reality is that the damage has already been done.
Unsurprisingly, Van Vrede is unable to say just how much of OUR taxpayers’ money has been stolen.
Van Vrede says SASSA is in talks to try recoup money lost as a result of these fraudulent payouts.