National Assembly (NA) speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has become the victim of an e-mail and WhatsApp scam, Parliament said in a statement on Sunday.
In the statement warning the public, the legislature says the scam uses an e-mail address and WhatsApp number purporting to be that of Mapisa-Nqakula, to defraud unsuspecting victims.
It explains: “The modus operandi is that the scammer sends an e-mail from a Gmail account, appearing to be that of the speaker, asking potential victims for their WhatsApp contacts to initiate a conversation.
“Once the e-mail chat migrates to WhatsApp, the scammer, whose targets thus far have been several staff members of Parliament, then requests potential victims to urgently purchase them an iTunes voucher.
“The WhatsApp number used bears the name of the speaker but the profile picture is that of the National Council of Provinces [NCOP] chairperson, Amos Masondo.”
Anyone who receives such an e-mail is urged to ignore it, warns the Parliament’s statement.
As SA’s legislative body under the present Constitution, Parliament comprises of the NA and NCOP. Mapisa-Nqakula serves as NA speaker, while Masondo is chairperson of the NCOP.
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