Johannesburg - The Department of Human Settlements has noted with great concern a fake LinkedIn account purporting to be that of Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, used by scammers to take money from unsuspecting individuals by promising them funding opportunities.
According to the department, the fake account recently scammed a member of the public under a fake campaign titled “European Business Fund,” requesting a fee of R8000 for registration and a further R60 000 after submitting a business plan.
“We wish to place it on record that Minister Kubayi has only one official LinkedIn account, accessible here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmamoloko-kubayi-b62927203/. As such, other accounts should be treated with suspicion, and members of the public are further encouraged to refrain from engaging with suspicious accounts and report or block them. Some of these fake social accounts often spread scams, promote phoney products, and even share lies and misinformation,” added the department.
Another scam that frequently affects them, according to the department, is the request for quotations.
“Therefore, when the public comes across these suspicious activities, they must not fall into the trap of losing their financial resources and must also report the accounts or alert the department,” said the department.
Apart from the Human Settlements Department, there have been two other departments hit by scams this month.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) warned the public not to fall for scam artists posing as department officials and demanding payment for placement in the department’s learnership programme.
This comes less than a month after a DCS official was arrested for allegedly selling application forms for the learnerships.
Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the scam involved fraudsters calling last year’s unsuccessful candidates and asking them to “pay money in order to secure a placement”.
In January, the Department of Employment and Labour called for vigilance after being made aware of a scam titled “Youth Employment Programme”, which makes empty promises to the unemployed.
The department said the scammers promised to reward participants in the so-called programme with obscene stipends.
“But before this can happen, a potential participant in the programme has to pay a deposit fee at (a) retailer and also furnish personal details,” the department said.
The Star