A second opinion, built for South Africa.
Before you tap it,
check it.
Paste the link that doesn’t feel right. We’ll tell you what we know, what looks off and what to do next.
No account. No judgement. The link never opens on your phone.
The useful kind of paranoia.
Scams change their costume. The pressure, borrowed authority and urgent link tend to stay the same.
Forward the message. Keep the doubt.
Send us the odd SMS or link on WhatsApp. If we recognise it, we’ll say so plainly. If we don’t, we’ll say that too.
What’s landing in South African phones
Real examples are easier to remember than another lecture about passwords.
Fastway's scam alert shows a fake Fastway phishing website using an incorrect Fastway-like domain. The scam impersonates Fastway in emails, SMS or instant messages, often around online-store/marketplace buying and selling, and asks for personal details or payment.
fastway-za[.]com
Updated SASSA fact-check warns that only sassa.gov.za and srd.sassa.gov.za are legitimate SASSA domains, and that fake SASSA grant websites copy SASSA branding, request grant applications or updates, and may charge bogus application/verification fees.
sassa-grants[.]co[.]za
SASSA fact-check lists fake grant-application domains that are not official SASSA/SRD portals. The scam claims users can apply for or update grants through a non-government domain and may ask for personal details or fees.
sassagrants[.]org
SASSA fact-check identifies non-official SASSA-looking sites used in phishing and fake application lures. The source says any SASSA site outside sassa.gov.za and srd.sassa.gov.za is fake.
sassa-payment[.]com
SASSA fact-check lists a fake SASSA-looking online portal format. The scam relies on a government-sounding domain and SASSA branding to convince beneficiaries to apply, verify details or pay fees outside official channels.
sassa-online[.]za
Recent SASSA fact-check warns about SMS phishing links saying 'click this link to verify your SASSA grant', 'update your details' or 'claim your payout'. It says SASSA does not send SMS messages with clickable links asking users to verify, log in or update details.
SASSA fact-check warns about WhatsApp messages claiming to be SASSA agents or official numbers for SRD applications/status fixes. The scam asks beneficiaries for ID numbers, banking details, OTPs or PINs over WhatsApp.
SASSA fact-check warns of fake Postbank Gold Card deadline messages. Scammers invent urgent card-expiry or replacement deadlines to push beneficiaries into sharing card details, queueing unnecessarily or engaging with fake helpers.
SASSA fact-check warns about callers pretending to be SASSA agents and asking for the OTP sent to the victim's phone to 'verify' the account. Sharing the OTP can let criminals access banking or grant-related services.
We do the tedious checking. You get the useful bit.
We look for a match
Your link is compared with public scam reports, security feeds and warnings sent in by other people.
We inspect the trail
Suspicious pages are checked in a remote security sandbox. The page never opens on your phone.
We say what we know
Known scam, seen before or new to us. No invented certainty and no cybersecurity homework.
Scams don’t arrive wearing a balaclava.
They arrive as an ordinary message from a familiar name. These are the channels showing up in our warnings.
That little pause is the whole point.
Checking takes a moment. Untangling a stolen bank account takes rather longer.
Show us what you received