Social media law experts are warning people to be careful of sharing personal information as well as pictures and videos amid rampant online fraud. The experts warn that those items could be fraudulently used by anyone who has access to them.
“Identity theft is absolutely illegal, you can lay a criminal charge, unfortunately my experience is that in South Africa, there are not many police people who are equipped to deal with the difficulties of online crime and the main challenge that we deal with is anonymity because often people who commit social media identity theft are anonymous and it can be difficult to who is behind that theft,” says Social Media Expert Emma Sadlier.
Police spokesperson Sabata Mokgoabone says they are concerned that in most cases, victims of online fraud do not lay charges.
“On the basis of the allegation or the information I got, it is apparent that there are elements of criminality especially theft, fraud and sexual offenses in terms of criminal law sexual offenses and the amendment act of 2007. So in this instance, it means the victims are more than welcome to open a case at the nearest police station,” says Mokgoabone.
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