Therefore, communities should be more vigilant, especially on social media and avoid being gullible as opportunists will waste no time but pounce on them for their hard earned money.

This is according to Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Vusi Shongwe who was reacting to a crook who sent him an email asking for help.

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The culprit stated in his email that his cousin needed help in the form of cash transfer and the culprit was apparently having issues with his bank account.

The would be scammer went on to state that he will not be able to speak on the phone because he was in a meeting.

The MEC is concerned that there are many more people who have fallen for these dirty tricks and if members of the community are not cautious enough, they will end up losing out especially this time of the year.

“Our communities should not just give away their banking details to strangers. Banks run awareness campaigns on an ongoing basis, people just need to be more cautious. Scammers send millions of emails on daily basis with hope of conning more people with their nefarious tricks.”

“Communities should always verify the authenticity of any electronic communication that they receive,” added the MEC