Somizi has become the latest in a very long list of celebrities to fall victim to a sim swap and phishing scam that cost one of his friends his "rent money" after he transferred money to "help" the star.
Speaking to TshisaLIVE‚ Somizi's manager Thato Matuka said hackers gained control of Somizi's phone and have been sending messages to contacts asking them to send up to R3‚000 via eWallet‚ because he urgently needed money.
"I got the message and was immediately suspicious. I tried to call him but they (the hackers) must have put the phone down on me‚" Thato said.
Thato explained that when he saw Somizi later that day‚ he was incredibly angry when he heard about the money request.
The Idols SA judge plans to open a case with police and get expert advice on how to regain control of his phone number.
Opening up about the impact the scam had on his life‚ Somizi told Metro FM listeners during his show with DJ Fresh that it was the first time something like this had happened to him.
"I never experienced anything like it before. I thought my friends knew me. I'm not the type of person to borrow money‚ especially over the phone‚" he said.
Somizi believed the hackers made "a lot of money" out of impersonating him and revealed that one friend even lost his rent money to the con artists.
"They made a lot of money because imagine if they had a hundred of my contacts sending them money. One contact that hurt me the most was a friend and a fan who I met last week. He got the message and he deposited his rent money‚" Somizi said.
The incident follows similar scams‚ that have targeted celebrities including Kwesta‚ DJ Shimza‚ Anatii and Nasty C.
Somizi imposter cons fan out of rent money
Speaking to TshisaLIVE‚ Somizi's manager Thato Matuka said hackers gained control of Somizi's phone and have been sending messages to contacts asking them to send up to R3‚000 via eWallet‚ because he urgently needed money.
"I got the message and was immediately suspicious. I tried to call him but they (the hackers) must have put the phone down on me‚" Thato said.
Thato explained that when he saw Somizi later that day‚ he was incredibly angry when he heard about the money request.
The Idols SA judge plans to open a case with police and get expert advice on how to regain control of his phone number.
Opening up about the impact the scam had on his life‚ Somizi told Metro FM listeners during his show with DJ Fresh that it was the first time something like this had happened to him.
"I never experienced anything like it before. I thought my friends knew me. I'm not the type of person to borrow money‚ especially over the phone‚" he said.
Somizi believed the hackers made "a lot of money" out of impersonating him and revealed that one friend even lost his rent money to the con artists.
"They made a lot of money because imagine if they had a hundred of my contacts sending them money. One contact that hurt me the most was a friend and a fan who I met last week. He got the message and he deposited his rent money‚" Somizi said.
The incident follows similar scams‚ that have targeted celebrities including Kwesta‚ DJ Shimza‚ Anatii and Nasty C.
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