A TikTok account claiming to belong to Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana has been declared as fake. Picture: GCIS
The Deputy Minister for the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Pinky Kekana, has now also fallen victim to a fake social media account impersonating her and offering what government calls “untrue promises”.
The fake account was discovered on TikTok a few days after government announced that it found at least 25 fake Facebook accounts purporting to belong to the Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Tembisile Ndabeni-Abrahams.
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The department has now cautioned members of the public to not engage with those behind these fake accounts as they seem to be opportunists looking to pounce on unsuspecting victims.
Spokesperson for the department, Lawrence Ngoveni, said the TikTok account, “Pinky_Kekana3” has been fraudulently using the deputy minister’s name and photos while distributing untrue promises of teaching clients to trade and quickly make amounts ranging from R56 000 to R67 000.
“This is false and intended to swindle and scam innocent citizens,” he said.
Ngoveni went on to confirm that the deputy minister does not have a TikTok account and also that the department does not offer any educational trading programmes about making money.
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“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,” Ngoveni concluded.
Last week, the Department of Small Business Development issued a stern warning to small business owners to be vigilant and guard against being scammed and defrauded by opportunists who created Facebook accounts under Minister Ndabeni-Abraham’s name.
It sai, in no uncertain terms, reiterated that neither Ndabeni-Abrahams nor the department would ever solicit “upfront fees” from the public in exchange for accessing funding or business opportunities.