Nandi-Ndaitwah Facebook account fake

WINDHOEK, 14 JUN – A Facebook account trending with the name of the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, is a sham, deputy minister Christine //Hoebes warned in the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday.
Nandi-Ndaitwah is also the country’s deputy prime minister.
Urging the public not to fall victim to the scam, //Hoebes said that fraudsters are using the minister’s name to solicit funds from unsuspecting people.
“I wish to state that the minister does not have a Facebook account,” cautioned //Hoebes.
She said the account is trending under the banner “Empowerment Strategy through the Southern African Development Community and Economic Community of West African States in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme office in the United Kingdom”.
“It asks people to use funds of pound sterling 100 000 (over N.dollars 1.7 million) to pound sterling 150 000 to create job opportunities for our citizens,” //Hoebes noted.
She said the scam further requests users to notify Nandi-Ndaitwah through the same Facebook account if they are interested in joining the programme as beneficiaries and that she will assist the applicants.
The warning comes nearly two months after a fake email account was also created under the same minister’s name, which asked people to apply to benefit from the “11th European Development Fund (2014-2020), National Indicative Programme 2014-2020 for Namibia”.
At the time, the ministry also condemned the email, saying it was tantamount to fraud.
In a separate case, on 11 May 2018, a young Namibian man fell into this trap, //Hoebes revealed.
“A young man approached her office after he had paid an amount of N.dollars 6 900 to an account provided by the fraudster to enable him to establish a project for school dropouts through the purported European Development Fund,” she said.
The fraud victim was then referred to the Namibian Police (NamPol) by Nandi-Ndaitwah’s office.
“I further wish to request the public to engage NamPol if they have received a notice supposedly from her requesting them to apply and send money for participating in any empowerment or development project. These are fraudulent activities,” //Hoebes pleaded.
(NAMPA)