Following a scam alert from
Bellville police about a Welgelegen woman who was scammed on a WhatsApp
community group, the TygerBurger has since learned that these scammers
impersonate legitimate businesses, in this case R17 Ventures AG.
Jono Duguid, R17 Ventures’ Senior Business Development
Manager, responded to the TygerBurger’s initial article stating the
company was aware scammers had impersonated its business running scams on
social media.
“We too as a company are victims of this scam,” said Duguid.
“We are also not the first company to become victims. This modus operandi has
been around for (at least what I can see via my research) around a year, with
the scammers changing the company they impersonate every few months.”
As in the Welgelegen woman’s experience, these scammers’
modus operandi involves adding individuals to WhatsApp groups and subgroups
without their consent where they are incentivised to leave fake reviews for
restaurants and other establishments. However, those who participate often find
they are not paid as promised.
Legitimate businesses fall prey
Operating from the V&A Waterfront, R17 Ventures have
registered a case at the Table Bay Harbour police on Monday 7 October.
The leading digital-performance marketing agency provides
online advertising services to international clientele. Its core services are
performance marketing (paid media), running ads for clients on channels such as
Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Bing and content
production for organic and paid ads.
“We also provide digital solutions like website development,
SEO and data analytics,” said Duguid. “We do not operate in the review space.
Additionally, as a leader in our field, working with top firms across the
globe, we respect privacy and uphold the regulations of POPIA, GDPR and so on,
particularly around consent.”
He said the way R17 Ventures normally approaches new clients
is through using a mix of paid media (online advertising), cold outreach and
referrals. “Our client base is 95% international.
“This scam, however, is positioned as a recruitment scam.
Regarding how we handle recruitment, we run job ads on LinkedIn, have a careers
section on our website and our recruitment team also do cold outreach on
LinkedIn. We do not use WhatsApp groups to acquire new talent nor clients.”
Scam alert!
R17 Ventures continues to warn the public and their own
clients to be vigilant from becoming implicated by such scams, such as adding a
Scam Alert pop-up message on their website,
stating: “We are aware of a WhatsApp scam that is impersonating our company. If
you have been contacted on WhatsApp, please report the admins and/or groups
immediately to WhatsApp. Do not share any personal information with these
impersonators. We are currently taking necessary action. If in doubt, please
contact us via our official contact channels.”
Duguid added that their teams have been working hard to
repair the reputational damage.
“We have also recommended not sharing any information with
these parties. Additionally, we have contacted the scammers and told them to
cease and desist, in addition to opening a criminal case with Saps. We have
also responded to all email queries, reviews, etc. pertaining to the WhatsApp
groups informing that it is a scam impersonating our company and to take the
steps outlined above.”
Verify, verify and verify again
As to ways in which people seeking avenues to invest can
verify the legitimacy of various ventures, Duguid recommends always contacting
the company in question to validate authenticity via official contact channels.
“We were first alerted to the scheme owing to people
contacting us, and as a result were able to advise them to block the scammers,
and not engage with them. And had they engaged or ‘done a task’ we would have
advised them to contact their bank immediately and advise that their account
may be compromised.”
In general, he continued, most companies do not use WhatsApp
groups for staff acquisition, nor client acquisition.
“That should be a red flag. However, as multiple businesses
are being impersonated and some of these businesses may use WhatsApp in such a
way; I would always recommend going directly to the company in question and
validating. Furthermore, one could also request their company registration
number and so on to verify they are legitimate.”
