Pretoria - The National Department of Tourism has warned members of the public to be aware of a scam in which organisations and companies are scammed by an email purporting to be from Minister Tokozile Xasa on LinkedIn.
The fraudsters attempt to extract funds from companies and organisations.
The method used by the fraudsters is: A member of the company/public receives an email claiming to be from the Minister of Tourism. The organisations are then lured with promises to participate in a $50 billion fund allocated by the BRICS Bank for smallholder agriculture development projects.
The recipients of the emails are required to express their interest by providing information in order to be added on the fictitious Minister’s beneficiary list to access US$1 million (R13 million) for job opportunities.
The following domain has so far been associated with this scam (although there may be others): Tokozilexasa@alumni.com.
“Members of the public are hereby sensitised that this domain is fake and not linked to the Minister of Tourism, Ms T Xasa and any communications using these domains should be treated with suspicion and reported to the nearest law enforcement agencies,” the department said in a statement.
The Ministry has called on all members of the public and service providers to be on alert for these criminals and to verify the legitimacy of information received from the office of the Minister to Ms N Bhengu: 012 444 6770. – SAnews.gov.za
