This comes at a time when the people of Zimbabwe were made to believe that Dr. Strive has ventured into politics through the use of a fake Facebook account under the name Liberty Party.
As TechnoMag team, we would like to alert the nation from our previous experiences that, Econet Wireless has a well-established communications department where the organization’s superiors use the official communication channels to disseminate information.
Yesterday, Econet distanced Strive Masiyiwa from the fake Facebook Page and other falsely generated social media messages circulating on WhatsApp and assured stakeholders that they do not have any links to such malicious information sites. “All the stakeholders, employees and regulatory authorities are hereby advised that an impostor has opened a Facebook page bearing a picture of our group chairman Mr Strive Masiyiwa, and the name of what seems to be a political party called the Liberty Party.” – read the official statement from Econet Wireless communications department.
“Mr Strive Masiyiwa is not in any way associated with that page, and the account has since been reported to Facebook”. Technological experts have warned public figures and users in general to be vigilant against accounts that use their images or names as they may be used for sinister activities. Mr Chris Musodza, the Zimbabwe Digital Society of Zimbabwe director, said pretenders who pose as public figures usually have different agendas including fraudulent activities. He also urged the public to only trust accounts verified by social networks.
“People impersonate for different things, especially agenda setting and fraud. In this case Mr Masiyiwa is a known businessman the people behind the account were trying to use his reach to get people to join the page. “If the people at Econet were not swift to respond to the page, it would not have been surprising if a bogus account number had been placed in an attempt to fleece people of their hard-earned money,” Mr Musodza said.
Mr Masiyiwa becomes the latest public figure in Zimbabwe to become a victim of cyber impersonation. In 2012, musician Willbroad Muponda also known as Willom Tight fell prey to imposters when a dubious page was opened by unknown people without his knowledge, attracting thousands of followers. Dr. Strive himself even took the matter to his official Facebook page – Strive Masiyiwa where he distanced himself from such unconfirmed publications. All he had to say was ” brand integrity matters!”
Technomag