Minister Agnes Tjongarero loses N$711 200 to scam: Calls for improved cybersecurity measures

Minister of sport, youth and national service Agnes Tjongarero says scammers have defrauded her of N$711 200 in personal savings.

Perhaps it’s time to return to the age-old practice of hiding money under the mattress, she says.

Tjongarero’s personal assistant, Jennifer Gomuses, was allegedly scammed out of N$18 500.

“Maybe we have to start putting our money back under the mattress, the old way.

This money was my savings and I have lost it. It is very scary and it can happen to anyone,” the minister said on Monday.

Tjongarero joins a list of ministers who have been scammed in the past three years, including prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila (out of N$159 000), minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi (out of N$200 000) and former minister of finance Calle Schlettwein.

The police have allegedly been covering cases involving members of the public and have failed to include this information in police reports.

Tjongarero on Monday said the incident involved the hacking of her First National Bank (FNB) account on 18 November.

“It is strange that people are being scammed, but the bank seems reluctant to identify the suspects while customers lose their entire savings. It is very weird,” she said.

The minister said the suspect approached her under the pretext of helping her with her bank card.

“The person came with a story of cards, wanting to assist me with my bank card,” Tjongarero said.

She is not sure if her case is linked to the recent Telecom leak, she said.

“My case happened before the Telecom issue, and I am not sure if it is linked,” she said.

The minister said the bank has not done much to help locate the suspect.

Tjongarero said the suspect has yet to be identified and no arrests have been made.

“All the police tell me is that they are still busy with investigations and no one has been arrested yet,” she said.

The ministry in February issued a statement to warn Namibians against scammers masquerading as ministry officials.

“Scammers provide a link on social media platforms that features an image of minister Agnes Tjongarero and falsely claims to direct users to an online application for the Youth Development Grant,” the statement said.

FNB RESPONDS

FNB chief marketing officer Tracy Eagles yesterday said the bank declines to comment on Tjongarero’s case.

“We cannot comment on individual customer scam investigations for account confidentiality reasons,” she said.

According to a statement released by FNB Namibia yesterday, operational risk head Tjirimuje Raseuatjo said the bank has noted with grave concern a rise in fraudulent activities.

“The festive season is usually when fraudsters are most active, preying on and taking advantage of customers who are often more relaxed and less vigilant,” he said.

EXPERT SUGGESTS AI

Cybersecurity expert Nrupesh Soni says high-profile individuals must adopt a proactive approach to cybersecurity, beginning with the stronger securing of their accounts.

“This includes using unique, complex passwords for online banking and enabling app-based multifactor authentication instead of relying on SMS codes.

“Devices used for banking should be secured with updated antivirus software and public Wi-Fi should be avoided for any financial transactions,” he says.

Soni says high-profile figures must also limit the amount of personal information they share online.

“Regularly monitoring bank accounts for any suspicious activity and immediately reporting anomalies to the bank can prevent significant losses,” he says.

Soni says banks should adopt fraud detection systems powered by artificial intelligence.

“Banks need to deploy advanced fraud detection systems powered by artificial intelligence to identify suspicious activities in real time and flag unusual transactions before losses occur,” he says.

“Many banks still rely on outdated methods, such as SMS-based one-time passwords (OTPs), which are vulnerable to SIM swap attacks.

Immediate steps must include upgrading to stronger multifactor authentication systems, such as biometrics or app-based authenticators, which are less prone to interception,” he says.

THE SCAMMED

In 2022, minister of fisheries and marine resources Derek Klazen warned the public about scammers targeting politicians.

“They are calling people, saying my name is Derek Klazen and I am having this problem and that problem and my car is stuck now. Can you please e-wallet me N$2 000, N$5 000?.

“These are the types of messages they are circulating . . . “

Other scams involve calling politicians directly.

“The gentleman asked me for my password and asked me to log in, he then sent me the one-time pin, which he asked me to send him,” prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said in her statement to the police.

This former finance minister was scammed out of N$159 000.

Another former finance minister, Calle Schlettwein, was scammed out of thousands of dollars last month.

He this week declined to mention the amount.

Two years ago, minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi was scammed out of N$200 000 by a person pretending to be a Standard Bank official.

“The person called me, saying: ‘Mr Kapofi, did you give permission to someone to withdraw from your account?” he said.

When he said no, Kapofi said the ‘bank employee’ offered to assist him with his accounts.

“He said he wanted to stop the [unauthorised] process.

Then he started saying my account number and branch number, so I confirmed.

Then he just took my money,” he said.

The ‘bank employee’, Owen Mahoto, was later arrested.

National police spokesperson deputy commissioner Kauna Shikwambi says scamming incidents are evolving on a daily basis.

“We educate the public to be careful and those who are not adhering will become victims,” she says.

“Sometimes people do not want to be victimised, which is why they are not opening cases when they get scammed, but we encourage the public to report these cases and not to give their personal information to strangers,” she says.

Regarding high-profile cases not being shared with the media, Shikwambi says it is not of public concern.

Bank Windhoek spokesperson Jacquiline Pack yesterday said: “We have not observed any abnormalities with fraud incidents, but it remains cyclical and is being managed proactively.

“The prevailing scams fraudsters use to defraud customers are linked to phishing techniques where customers are persuaded to disclose confidential private banking information.”