South Africa: The Growing Threat of Impersonation Scams and How South Africans Are Falling Victim to Fraud

11 August 2025
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

If you've ever received a phone call, email or SMS pretending to be from your bank or mobile provider, only to later discover it was a fake, you're not alone. A confluence of leaked personal data, weak enforcement of laws and the rise of cheap AI tools means South Africans are facing more scam attempts than ever before.

If you've ever received a phone call, email or SMS pretending to be from your bank or mobile provider, only to later discover it was a fake, you're not alone. A confluence of leaked personal data, weak enforcement of laws and the rise of cheap AI tools means South Africans are facing more scam attempts than ever before.

In recent weeks, several members of Daily Maverick's newsroom received WhatsApp messages from someone claiming to be a senior company figure. The name and profile picture matched perfectly. The message received by this journalist read as follows:

"I'm currently in a very critical meeting and I can't take calls at the moment. I need you to run a very quick urgent task for me... I need you to initiate a transfer to a prospect of mine. You will be reimbursed..."

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Journalists are by nature sceptics, and we quickly confirmed the sender was an impersonator, so the scam failed.

Not everyone is so lucky. Impersonation can happen via WhatsApp, email, SMS ("relative in trouble" scams), or even through intercepted invoices, where only the banking details are changed, diverting payment to a fraudster.

If you've fallen for one of these schemes, you're not alone,...

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