The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has warned the public about a scam where individuals are impersonating the FSCA and the FSCA Commissioner, Unathi Kamlana.
This is according to a statement released by FSCA, South Africa’s financial sector regulator.
The FSCA said that the fraudsters appear to be operating an “impersonation scam”. The fraudsters will use fraudulent documents that have supposedly been issued by Kamlana to solicit funds from the public.
“The FSCA received a complaint from someone based in Germany, following receipt of a letter purporting to have been issued by the FSCA,” the regulator said.
The impersonators contacted the complainant and requested that he pay a fee of $10,769 (R189,875.45) for an “International Legitimacy of Qualification”, which they claim would result in Standard Bank of South Africa releasing $28,154,926.84 to him.
The complainant did not take up the offer and reported the matter to the FSCA.
“The FSCA is investigating this matter and advises the public to be cautious of such fraudulent schemes,” the FSCA said.
“The FSCA is not involved in managing or carrying out investments on behalf of the public. The FSCA and Kamlana are not linked to impersonator/s in any way.”
The public is urged to be cautious when dealing with the impersonators or with unsolicited emails are supposedly from the FSCA or FSCA staff.
“There are many fraudsters operating scams, and the number is growing. South Africans lose millions of rands every year to fraudsters. Illegal operations are sometimes well-disguised as legitimate operations,” the FSCA said.
If South Africans find themselves in doubt that they should contact the FSCA.
The FSCA said that customers who want to conduct financial services with an institution or person need to check with the FSCA to see whether the institution or person is authorised to render financial services.
Here are two ways customers can see if the institution or person has the authority to render financial services:
– the FSCA toll-free number 0800 110 443
– FSCA website: https://www.fsca.co.za/Fais/Search_FSP.htm
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