Another fraudster is on the loose, pretending to be small business development, cooperatives and marketing principal secretary Lerata Pekane and scamming small business owners around Rothe in Maseru by promising them funding.
This is the second time in as many months that the ministry has had to deal with such a nuisance, after an imposter in April posing as its official attempted to con traders in Qacha’s Nek, promising to help small businesses access a government Covid19 relief in exchange for a fee.
The ministry’ public relations officer Makalang Mokere, in an interview with theReporter, said they reported the first incident to the police and were working with a local mobile company to trace the number that people sent money to.
Mokere said they have the names and the number they are still waiting for the police to catch the suspect.
He said since they have in the past tried to warn people against scammers they did not think people will fall for it again, and are convinced the swindlers are a syndicate.
“We do not think it could be one person as it is happening in different districts. We have reason to believe there is network of people out there who are hell bent on making a quick buck out of unsuspecting victims. These con artists actually approach local councils and request to be allowed to talk to small business owners about ‘funding’.
“People only wise up after they have paid the so-called fee and the promised funding does not materialise. We really wish our people could listen when they are being warned against such things,” Mokere said.
He reiterated that at the moment there is no funding whatsoever that the ministry is involved in. He advised people should listen to radios and read newspapers about any information that concerns the public.
He further warned Basotho to beware of such people and realise that officials of the ministry wear visible name tags that identify them as ministry officials.
