The South African Social Security Agency provides monthly handouts to millions of needy people living there. In order to guarantee that grants are awarded to the proper recipients, the agency in charge of these payments has implemented new verification checks.
Beneficiaries of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) award, often known as the R350 grant, will be subject to an identity verification check, according to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). A facial recognition check will be used for this.
Sassa’s announcement will have an impact on a number of applicant organizations for SRD funding. Grant recipients who change their mobile phones, have a specific SRD grant status or use a particular payment method are all affected grant beneficiaries.
Which recipients of the R350 Grant will be obligated to undergo facial recognition?
- Customers that want to modify their mobile number
- Customers seeking to resolve a referenced SRD grant status
- Customers who asked to have a Post Bank account opened in their name
- Customers who want to pay with cash should send cash
A recipient of an SRD award may change their mobile phone number for a number of reasons. However, Sassa won’t send a client an SMS notifying them that their money is available for pickup if they neglect to update their mobile phone on the SRD grant website.
A Referred SRD grant status, according to Sassa, indicates that a bogus application was received from the applicant’s cellphone number.
The South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) must be contacted by applicants in order to resolve a Referred SRD grant status. Applicants may contact [email protected] with proof of resolution once the matter has been resolved.
Then, recipients will have to submit to facial recognition.
Beneficiaries will receive two SMS messages from Sassa, according to the company. The second SMS contains a link that recipients must click on. Only three days or 72 hours will this link be active.
Beneficiaries who need more details on the new biometric identity verification are urged to call the Sassa call center at 0800 60 10 11 and ask for a resend of the SMS.
