“Imbewu” actress Jailoshini Naidoo recently took to her social media accounts to inform her friends, fans and followers that she has had her online identity stolen.
Naidoo shared that a hacker had made a fake WhatsApp account using her Instagram profile picture and was asking people to invest money in trade, promising “great returns”.
She wrote on social media: “PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT ME…. IT IS A FAKE PROFILE!!! I WILL NEVER ASK ANYBODY TO INVEST MONEY INTO ANYTHING!!! PLEASE IGNORE OR REPORT THESE FAKE ACCOUNTS! DO NOT ENTERTAIN IT IN ANY WAY!!!”
She added that she had received many messages from people asking whether the profile was hers.
“It’s NOT ME!!! They’re using my Insta pic pretending to be me! There are so many other fake tik tok accounts as well using a variety of my pics from my Insta & FB accounts and my name ( passing it off as me).
“This one in particular takes u straight into a WhatsApp no with my IG pic (again pretending to be me) luring you into investing money to trade that will apparently give you great returns!
“Again it’s NOT ME!!! Please be careful and aware of these frauds!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 I’m appalled at how devious some people can be!😡,” ended the caption.
Online identity theft is becoming rife and Naidoo is not the only celebrity to experience it.
On Tuesday, January 31, DJ Zinhle took to her Instagram Stories to post that her WhatsApp bookings line had been hacked.
In a separate story she advised that her clients and promoters should refrain from making any payment unless it was directly through her via Direct Message, Face Time or WhatsApp video call.
Earlier this month, award-winning actress Thandeka Dawn King warned her 2.2 million fans about a weight-loss company that was using her photographs unlawfully to promote their products.
The “DiepCity” actress shared a post displaying three of her images that appeared to come from a fake “Thandeka King” Facebook account, where the scammers told her followers that she had lost 19kg in two months.