A South African woman has taken legal action after being scammed out of R800,000 by Forex Traders pretending to be the local actress Connie Ferguson. The woman reportedly made contact with the scammers on Facebook, where they had used photos of Ferguson. The conversation then moved to WhatsApp, where the scammers were able to convince the woman to give them thousands of Rands, which she obtained from bank loans. Upon hearing about the incident, Ferguson expressed concern and advised people to be cautious of fake profiles. She also demanded that the scammers remove her name and photos from fraudulent activities.
Johannesburg woman has reportedly lost almost R900k to a scammer who pretended to be Connie Ferguson
Matokgo Elizabeth Makutoane was scammed out of almost a million rand after coming into contact with scammers on Facebook. The scammers had created a fake profile using Connie Ferguson’s name and pictures. They told Matokgo about a “lucrative investment opportunity” where she would need to invest R100,000 and receive R10 million in return. She was also informed that she would need to pay a withdrawal fee of R256,000. Between March 4th and 13th, Matokgo deposited R100,000 and accidentally deposited R302,000 instead of R256,000 for the withdrawal fee.
After sending the money, she was told to send $47,000 (R860,337.35) to receive a remittance card that would allow her to withdraw her millions. According to Briefly News, Matokgo took out bank loans and sent an additional R460,000 to the scammers in an attempt to get her money back. Sunday World reports that she sent a total of around R867,000 to the scammers before realizing that she had been scammed. Matokgo then took legal action by opening a fraud case and asking the court for an urgent interdict to prevent the scammers from withdrawing the funds.
Connie Ferguson sympathises with the Johannesburg woman
Upon hearing the news, Connie Ferguson expressed sympathy for Matokgo, who she hopes will recover her money.
She also shared how annoyed she is over the accounts using her name to scam unsuspecting victims. The star reportedly said she is too busy to press criminal charges against the impersonators.
“They must just remove my name there quickly, and I hope this poor woman can get her money back,” she said.
Meanwhile, social media users have slammed Matokgo as “greedy” and “dishonest” for believing in the get-rich-quick scheme.