Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa’s former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has warned about a scam making the rounds, which features a deepfake of him.
Manuel was previously South Africa’s Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009, and as a Minister in the Presidency from 2009 to 2014, responsible for the National Planning Commission.
He has been working with Old Mutual’s board since 2015, where he currently serves as chairman.
However, Old Mutual and Manuel have warned the public that a highly sophisticated investment scam is making the rounds on Facebook and possibly other social media platforms.
The scam features Manuel’s fake likeness.
Old Mutual and Manuel condemn the tactics used by criminals, which are designed to scam the public out of their hard-earned money, and have sent a warning to the public to avoid the scam.
“It has come to my attention that there are social media posts using my image, and artificial voice and pretending to either give people investment advice or requesting that they invest in products that I advise them to,” said Manuel.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) can easily be used by bad people. I say without fear that those images are fraudulent. I do not give investment advice to anybody. It would be illegal to do so.”
Manuel noted that the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS), which was passed when he was Finance Minister, stipulates that only qualified people can offer investment advice.
Any person who wants to offer such advice must be registered and have a current and valid registration certificate, which Manuel does not possess.
“Similarly, any investment product must be with a reputable company and should have a certificate from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. If it’s not certified, my plea is that people do not engage with it.”
“The old saying, if it looks too good to be true, it is likely to be too good to be true. Too many people have lost their hard-earned money, especially what they’ve saved for later in life, stolen by crooks.”
“I plead with you to protect your nest egg. Take the time to ask the questions and insist on seeing the proof. Please protect yourself!”
How to protect yourself
Old Mutual has given the following tips to its customers to protect themselves from fraudsters and identity thieves:
‘Check that the apps you download from the App Store are verified and legitimate.
Check and verify all requests for personal information and only share information when you are 100% sure there is a legitimate reason to do so.
Never share login details such as passwords or banking pins with anyone. Old Mutual will never contact you to ask for your username or password.
Always use a strong password that contains letters, numbers and symbols and change it regularly.
Apply multi-factor authentication on all accounts, where possible.
Do not share too much information about your life on social media and use privacy settings.’
The group said that it takes the protection of all customer information seriously and is in the process of strengthening its security controls.
The public has been urged to remain vigilant and always report get-rich-quick schemes, which have become more prevalent as South Africa approaches the holiday season.
Manuel is not the first prominent figure to be see their likeness used in a fake investment scam in South Africa, with South African-born billionaire Elon Musk and former SABC presenter Francis Herd.
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