South Africa: Premier Alan Winde of the Western Cape has shared an awareness post alerting everyone to a scam running in Cape Town involving his name. He has also shared a picture of the WhatsApp scam number on his ‘X’ handle.
While sharing the information with the citizens he wrote, “SCAM ALERT” and aware people that this is not his number. And if they receive any messages from this number, the need to alert the relevant authorities, authorised to check and investigate the scam.
He further added, “Thank you to the resident who brought this to my attention at the Cabinet Outreach last night.”
Reportedly, the WhatsApp scam assures people on the name of Premier Alan Winde that they have an offer for the people to earn more than R55,000 in just 6 hours.
“Have an offer for you on how you can earn more than R55,000 in just 6 hours of trading with your smart phone without sending money to anyone,” claims the scam.
As per the sources, the residents of the City of Cape Town are being warned time-to-time about the ongoing and increasing scams in the Western Cape locality.
The scammers are using WhatsApp as their major tool to target the information on residents and bothering them for earning more money, making false claims.
Considering this, the City of Cape of Town has also said that it has been made aware of the fraudsters contacting the city customers via phone calls or through WhatsApp to perpetrate the scam. The fraudsters claim to be officials who know Premier Winde or pretends to be himself.
Notably, the huge popularity of WhatsApp as the main online message platform for South Africans means that it is often used by bad actors to trick people. Also, the WhatsApp scams are rife locally, including the recent type of scam where scammers add targets to large WhatsApp groups.
Following the awareness post by Premier Alan Winde many people showcased their concern and shared whatever they no about the recent scam in the comment section.
A social media user named Derick Gale commented, “There are one of John Steenhuisen, also sending ppl friend requests. I have reported it. FB is also useless with their reporting system. Where does one report it to then.”
Another person with the username, Maryam Joel commented, “It is crucial to act quickly when encountering such issues in order to reduce any potential harm and safeguard your personal data.”