The festive season is approaching and many scammers will be sharpening their ways to rob people of their belongings, particularly money.
City of Ekurhuleni released an alert to its residents of scammers posing as City officials.
According to CoE’s spokesperson Themba Gadebe, the City has been flooded with complaints from people who have been scammed of their monies by these scammers, since the beginning of the year.
“Scammers are already out there and ready to trick people.”
Gadebe said other residents had strangers walking into their premises posing as City officials who monitor water or electricity meter boxes and ultimately robbed them.
In other cases victims were made to believe that they won a tender to supply the City with 240-litre waste wheelie bins.
“They were lured into depositing large amounts of money into a bank account that was alleged to belong to the City,” said Gadebe.
CoE also experienced a ransomware attack recently.
“A malicious software used by cybercriminals to either block or threaten to publish data unless a sum of money or ransom is paid,” said Gadebe.
The spokesperson said a common way ransomware enters corporate networks is through email, scammers.
“These often include harmful links or attachments in emails that look harmless,”
To report these scammers contact CoE’s hotline on 0800 102 201.
