Author: Joel Cedras
GroundUp freelancer Joel Cedras voluntarily fell victim to a scam in order to show how it works. There are numerous scams on social media offering quick money to desperate people. This particular scam is international: it appears to be operated from China, with “staff”, possibly working in coercive environments, in Myanmar, Nigeria and Thailand. Desperate people in Egypt, Peru, Bangladesh, Iraq, Pakistan, Jordan and South Africa are targeted. The scam is convincing, and it is extremely popular. The scammers’ Telegram account has over 100,000 followers. I decided to be a victim of a scam. GroundUp gave me a R2,000 budget,…
We are two final-year computer science students, and we have noticed just how bad the gambling crisis has become, especially on campus. Students are gambling their bursary or NSFAS funds away, and have to borrow money to avoid going hungry. In this article, we want to debunk common gambling misconceptions found on social media and help make sense of how these systems actually work and why gambling is such a problem in South Africa. A nation searching for the next jackpot According to Google Trends, four of the top ten search terms in South Africa are related to gambling. Betway sits at…
Scammers are taking over bank accounts, often by paying account owners for a One Time Pin (OTP). People who have their bank accounts hijacked are called “money mules”. Here we explain why this happens, and what needs to be done. Judith Hawarden must have been excited when she paid R5.5-million to ENS, the attorneys handling the sale of her new house. Unfortunately, she didn’t realise that the email she had received with the bank account details wasn’t from ENS but from a scammer. The email address ended ensafirca.com, not ensafrica.com, and quite understandably she didn’t notice this. Before any of…
Virtual mobile provider uConnect allows customers to buy SIM cards without verifying their IDs. uConnect asks for an ID number and address when one orders a SIM card, but does not ask for proof. South African law requires that sellers register the ID and residential address of their customers. But the law is badly enforced and thousands of crimes are committed using fraudulently registered or stolen SIM cards every year. Mobile provider uConnect is selling SIM cards online without properly verifying the identity and residential address of its customers. This contravenes RICA law and makes it easier for fraudsters to buy SIM…