Cape Town – The City of Cape Town has warned residents about five scams targeting them, ranging from fake service-disconnection threats and housing offers to fraudulent job opportunities and traffic fine demands.
In a statement, the City said scammers were increasingly contacting residents, often through WhatsApp, while falsely claiming to be municipal officials.
The scammers allegedly tell residents that their municipal accounts are in arrears and demand immediate payment to prevent water or electricity services from being disconnected.
“The City is alerted regularly about various incidents where residents are contacted, often via WhatsApp, by individuals falsely claiming to represent the City,” the statement said.
The City also warned residents about scammers offering jobs and state-subsidised houses in exchange for money.
“The scammers also pretend to be responsible for traffic fine payment. These are not real and residents should always take a moment to pause and verify,” the City said.
The five scams highlighted by the City are:
- Water and electricity disconnections: Residents are warned that the City does not use WhatsApp or social media to notify them about service disconnections. Municipal employees and contractors will not request payment through e-wallets, CashSend or personal bank accounts.
- State-subsidised housing: Residents are not required to pay to register on the Housing Needs Register or to receive a state-subsidised home.
- Traffic fines: The City does not demand payment for traffic violations through SMS, email or WhatsApp.
- Parking fees: Parking payments must be made directly to official parking marshals at the time of parking.
- Job opportunities: The City does not recruit through WhatsApp, flyers or word of mouth and does not charge fees for job opportunities, including internships, EPWP positions, interviews or jobseeker forms.
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Alderman Siseko Mbandezi, urged residents to verify suspicious requests before making payments.
“Residents are reminded that payments must only be made through official City payment channels,” Mbandezi said.
“The City does not use WhatsApp to notify residents of account arrears or service disconnections. No City official may request payment into a personal bank account, via e-wallet or through other informal payment methods.”
Mbandezi added: “It is only through working together, pausing and verifying that we can bring an end to this criminality.”
The City urged residents who receive messages demanding immediate payment to contact it first and verify whether the request is legitimate.
Residents were also warned not to share personal or banking information or click on suspicious links.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, X and Instagram
Picture: Pixabay
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
