MTN chair Mcebisi Jonas is once again the subject of a cyber scam, with fraudsters impersonating the former deputy finance minister on social media platforms aiming to spread misinformation.
Africa's largest mobile operator alerted the public on Thursday that Jonas was being impersonated.
“It has come to our attention that there is an X account impersonating MTN group’s chairperson Mcebisi Jonas and spreading misinformation.”
The group confirmed that Jonas does not have an official X account.
“We note that any views shared on the account are not the views of our chairperson and of MTN group and are taking the necessary steps to have this taken down and addressed.”
One post by the account sees “Jonas” weighing in on the ongoing national VAT debate, one of the major points that is said to have led to the Treasury’s postponement of this year’s budget speech, which was scheduled to have taken place on Wednesday.
Understandably, MTN has distanced its chair from such statements.
This comes a few days after telecom and broadcast regulator the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) reported impersonation of its officials.
“Icasa has been made aware of scammers impersonating its representatives, contacting targeted people through various means, and fraudulently requesting their personal information. In some cases, these scammers falsely claim that the targeted people’s phone numbers are being used for illegal or fraudulent activities,” the authority said.
“Icasa categorically states that it is not making these fraudulent calls, neither is it engaging in such activities intended to deceive individuals into disclosing sensitive personal information.”
The regulator urged members of the public to “exercise caution and vigilance when receiving unsolicited communication”.
For Jonas, this is the latest in a series of attempted impersonations. In April last year, MTN reported fraudsters were impersonating Jonas on messaging platforms, falsely soliciting funding under the guise of requests for sponsorships or raising of funds towards various causes.
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.
Other public figures, including chief electoral officer at the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), Sy Mamabolo, have also been subject to impersonation on social media and messaging platforms.
This problem is now being made worse by technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
ChatGPT and other AI tools are enabling criminals to automate the gathering of information, formation of target groups, and identification of vulnerable behaviours.
This is helping to lure big-name victims, also known as “big fish”, in what are now referred to as harpoon whaling attacks.
Cybersecurity experts continue to call on the public to report any suspicious calls or forms of communication.
Brian Pinnock, a vice-president at security firm Mimecast, highlights that legal firms faced a surge in impersonation attacks, and software and SaaS [software as a service] providers have also been affected by deceptive impersonation attempts.
“These diverse attack patterns highlight the importance of tailoring cybersecurity defences to address an organisation’s specific threat profile.”
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