MTN chair Mcebisi Jonas has become the subject of a cyber scam that has fraudsters impersonating the former deputy finance minister on messaging platforms. He becomes the latest in a growing list of public figures being impersonated online.
The mobile operator alerted the public on Friday to a new scam where Jonas is being impersonated to solicit money.
According to MTN, the fraudsters contact targeted victims, introducing themselves as MTN representatives and request an urgent EFT payment to a specific recipient towards MTN's outreach, social and foundation projects.
“We have been made aware of an increasing number of incidents where our group chairman of the board, Mcebisi Jonas, is being impersonated or false representatives reach out to the public requesting funding towards MTN foundation projects,” said Nompilo Morafo, MTN's chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer.
This scam amounts to a form of social engineering on the part of the fraudsters. According to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits human error to gain private information, access or valuables.
In cybercrime, these “human hacking” scams tend to lure unsuspecting users into exposing data, spreading malware infections, or giving access to restricted systems. Attacks can happen online, in person and via other interactions.
A number of public officials have been victim to similar scams. Earlier in the month it was reported that professional contacts and acquaintances of chief electoral officer at the Electoral Commission (IEC), Sy Mamabolo, were being targeted by an impostor using texting messages on WhatsApp. In September, the KwaZulu-Natal department of economic development, tourism & environmental affairs warned of a fake Facebook account and WhatsApp messages purporting to be from MEC Siboniso Duma.
In all this one cannot forget the mountain of fake company, political and celebrity accounts that burst on Twitter in late 2022 when new owner Elon Musk launched a programme allowing users to pay for verification badges on their accounts.
MTN said it will carry out an internal audit and forensic process to weed out an organised crime syndicate after having been made aware of incidents related to the false solicitation of funding under the guise of requests for sponsorship towards the company’s corporate social investment (CSI) projects.
“We urge the public to not fall prey to scammers and report all suspicious and unsolicited phone calls, emails and WhatsApp communication received to us,” Morafo said.
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