Some parliamentary members are being targeted by scammers who have created fake social media accounts impersonating ministers. The latest to be targeted is Deputy Minister of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), Pinky Kekana.
Last week we reported that the Ministry of Small Business Development warned members of the public about a number of fake Facebook accounts in the name of Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. The ministry said it had identified over 25 fake accounts which impersonate the minister and that it condemned the fraudulent use of the minister’s name, profile and pictures to create fake accounts. The sole intention of these accounts, according to the ministry, is to defraud and scam innocent citizens, especially small business owners.
On Monday January 8 the DPME reported that the TikTok account “Pinky_Kekana3” had been fraudulently using the Deputy Minister’s name and photos while disseminating untrue promises of teaching clients to trade and quickly make amounts ranging from R56 000 to R67 000. The department said this is false and “intended to swindle and scam innocent citizens”.
“For the record, Deputy Minister Kekana does not have a TikTok account and the Ministry and DPME do not offer any educational trading programmes about making money,” the department said in a statement.
“Therefore, the public and stakeholders are urged to desist from following or communicating with the TikTok account ‘Pinky_Kekana3’ to avoid falling victim to unscrupulous fraudsters.”
The official social media accounts of the Deputy Minister are as follows:
X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Pinky_Kekana1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PinkyKekana2
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pinky_kekana1
