Postbank reverses 4,500 Sassa payments after system glitch

Postbank says thousands of SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) payments have been reversed after a system glitch.

At least 4,500 Sassa beneficiaries were unable to access their grants this month after Postbank suffered yet another glitch in its system.

Postbank said its system became unstable resulting in social grants beneficiaries using the Sassa/Postbank gold card experiencing challenges when making transactions on national payment system access points such as ATMs, retailers and SA Post Office branches.

Speaking on CapeTalk, Postbank spokesperson Bongani Diako said the situation has stabilised and payment issues have been resolved.

Diako said that between 9am and noon on January 5, during the payment of child grants, the system’s performance wasn’t up to standard. In that period, beneficiaries who attempted to withdraw money either at ATMs or retailers, had their transactions time out. “They didn't get their money but it reflected as if they did. That meant reversals had to happen,” he said.

The reversals have since been done. 

Millions of beneficiaries who use Postbank or gold cards were unable to withdraw their funds from ATMs in December after Postbank uncovered criminal networks targeting ATMs to access accounts.

Postbank said: “In recent months, Postbank has been experiencing technical glitches that disrupted the smooth withdrawal of social assistance benefits. 

“After extensive investigations we uncovered network attacks by criminals determined to commit ATM card fraud-related crimes on Postbank payments using sophisticated modus operandi which require further investigation,” he said.

TimesLIVE