MTN Group on Monday issued a warning that criminals are impersonating the chairman of its board of directors, Mcebisi Jonas, seeking to extract money from their unsuspecting victims.
The JSE-listed telecommunications group said in a statement that the scam involved one or more people purporting to be Jonas or his representative. The scamsters try to solicit money from their victims.
“MTN has been made aware of incidents related to the false solicitation of funding under the guise of requests for sponsorships or raising of funds towards various causes,” the statement said.
“In the most recent case, the fraudster or fraudsters reached out via voice call from various non-listed numbers and introduced himself as MTN Group chairman of the board, Mcebisi Jonas, or at times, the fraudster may ask for funds to rescue the group chair from some ‘danger’ or ‘difficult situation’,” the group said.
Jonas is a former deputy finance minister. He alleged in 2016 that in 2015 members of the notorious Gupta family, who were close to former President Jacob Zuma, offered him R600-million to be the next finance minister. He was appointed as MTN chairman in 2019. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media