Attention: During the week starting 13th of November 2023, many people in Tanzania received WhatsApp messages from a foreign number. The person identified to be a representative of an agency from Tanzania.
Our agency, Tanzlite Digital was among the brand names these automated messages used. Some of the messages read:
My name is Ayanna, I am a Senior Representative Officer at Tanzlite Digital Marketing agency . Our company is recruiting part-time/full-time online employees, Our job is very simple, May I take a few minutes of your time? I would like to share a job offer for you.
FAKE!
Hello Hello I am Cynthia a Senior Representative of of Tanzlite Digital Ltd . Our company is hiring online employees for part-time. Can I share salary and job details?
FAKE!
And another similar message came from Vinza Masana
First of all, this is a PURE Scam. Just look at it yourself. It’s bullshit.
People have already lost money!
Our response to this fraud
Let us reiterate what we posted on all of our social media channels:
First: There are no titles or hierarchical structures at Tanzlite Digital. If you receive a message that sounds corporatey, like some senior somebody from us —that’s NOT us. We don’t have Vinza Masana, Ayanna, or any representative with a foreign number.
Second: Tanzlite doesn’t reach out to anyone. People reach out to us.
Third: We single out talent from LinkedIn only. Not in your WhatsApp app.
Fourth: There’s no one in a foreign country with a foreign number representing us.
And lastly: You’re too smart to be scammed by this automated WhatsApp message. It’s the AI version of “Ile hela tuma kwenye namba hii.”
What should you do when you receive such a scam message?
Block and report that number to WhatsApp IMMEDIATELY. Don’t even waste time to reply because it is probably not a human on the other side. Just automated messages reaching you by guessing random numbers. They will probably come with a different name and company but, you have been warned.
Hellow, thank you for this information, as today I received a watsup sms from foreign no. One claiming to be Leyla Barack as your representative. Wanting me to subscribe and getting paid Tsh. 6,000 per one subscription.
Hello Rose, thank you for letting us know. Many people have contacted us about this. As made clear in the article, we do not have any representative from a foreign country with a foreign number.