Zolisa Xaluva latest celebrity to fall victim to identity theft

While identity theft is a prosecutable offence in SA, the crime seems to be on the rise, especially on social media. The latest person to publicly declare falling victim to identity theft is local actor Zolisa Xaluva. 

Taking to Twitter, the Smoke & Mirrors actor revealed that there was a Twitter account using his name to scam people. According to some Twitter users who have allegedly been scammed, the verified account with the handle @RealZolisa has set up a WhatsApp based agency named Lakey Media, that promises to help people get TV jobs. Victims then send a fee to the agency and end up getting scammed. 

In the 45-second video, the actor set the record straight and said that he had no relation to the account or the media agency. He then asked victims to send him their proof of payments, so he could build a case against the person using his name for scams. 

“If you have fallen victim to this scam please send me any proof of payment that you’ve paid money into any account. Send it to my Instagram account or to @TallZo and maybe we can start to build some kind of a case,” he said before apologising to the people who were scammed. 

“I have no affiliation with Lakey Media, @RealZolisa is not my account even though it is verified. I have no connection to it or the person running it. If you’ve fallen victim, I sincerely apologise, please send me your proof and we can see what we can do.”