Sassa R350 Grant Beneficiaries To Undergo Facial Recognition Checks 2023

In South Africa, millions of vulnerable people rely on monthly grants from the South African Social Security Agency. To ensure that grants are paid to the right recipients, the agency responsible for these grants has introduced new verification checks.

Sassa announces an identity verification check for beneficiaries of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, also known as the R350 grant. Facial recognition will be used for this purpose.

Who was effected by this announcement

Several groups of people who applied for SRD grants will be affected by this announcement from Sassa. People who update their mobile numbers, people with a certain SRD grant status, and people who choose certain payment methods are all affected.

Facial recognition will be required for which R350 grant recipients?

• Those who wish to update their mobile number 
• Those who wish to clear the status of a referred SRD grant 
• A client who has requested that a Post Bank account be opened on their behalf 
• The cash send payment method is used by clients who request payment

More About Facial Recognition Checks 2023

An SRD grant beneficiary can change their mobile phone number for a variety of reasons. Sassa will not inform clients that their money is ready for collection if they do not update their mobile number on the SRD grant website.A Referred SRD grant status indicates that a fraudulent application was received from the applicant’s mobile number.

How to clear SRD grant status

In order to clear a Referred SRD grant status, applicants must contact the South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS). The applicant may send proof of clearing the issue to [email protected] once the issue has been resolved.

Facial recognition will then be required of beneficiaries.

A total of two SMS’s will be sent to beneficiaries by Sassa. The second SMS includes a link that beneficiaries must click on. The link will only be valid for three days/72 hours.

The Sassa call center can be contacted at 0800 60 10 11 for further information about the new biometric identity verification.