Warning to people without a matric looking for jobs in South Africa
Scammers in South Africa are using artificial intelligence (AI) to create highly convincing fake recruitment campaigns to steal people’s personal data, often targeting job seekers without a matric.
Cybersecurity expert Boikokobetso Makhetloane told Newzroom Afrika that criminals used social media accounts with thousands of followers to target people looking for work.
“We need to understand that everything is always about social engineering. We know that these people are preying on people who are desperate,” he said.
“If I can find a way to make you click on things, if I can find a way to make you pay for something, or if I can find a way to trick you into giving me certain information, it is manipulation.”
According to the 2026 Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the official unemployment rate for the first quarter of the year stood at 32.7%, up 1.3% year over year.
The total number of unemployed individuals in South Africa reached 8.1 million, with youth unemployment disproportionally greater, at 40.6% of the population.
Makhetloane said that scammers were increasingly turning to readily accessible AI platforms to create phishing attacks and fake job advertisements.
“It’s so simple for anybody to get tricked because you don’t know what these people are planning or creating these job posts for,” he said.
“We are seeing a lot of AI posters. Be very careful when you see such posters. You have to be very careful and do your due diligence yourself.”
Entire groups on Facebook are dedicated to spreading fake AI-generated job advertisements for South Africans to apply for, unknowingly giving scammers their personal information.
One group we found had over 207,000 members. Many of these fake ads were circulated on WhatsApp and will include instructions, such as phone numbers to contact.
When a user sends a message, they are unknowingly tricked into providing their contact details to scammers. Other fake adverts direct users to phishing websites to apply.
Red flags to look out for with AI-generated job adverts
“People need to understand there is something called data harvesting. They create, for example, a particular website so they can get your data when you click on it,” said Makhetloane.
“You get them to click on the link, you get them to fill in certain information, and you even get them to fill in their ID numbers. It’s so simple and easy, without people even verifying if the company is real.”
Makhetloane said that some scam websites will even ask for upfront payments from potential victims under the guise of hiring fees or for medical checks that will never happen.
“I have come across a lot of fake recruitment companies that are making people pay upfront for certain things,” he said.
“For example, one of them was making somebody pay for a medical checkup, which didn’t make any sense, and they were telling them they needed to go to a particular office.”
Makhetloane alleged that this particular scam was a way to lure people into human trafficking situations.
He said one of the biggest red flags for job seekers to look out for in a potentially fake job advert is whether it was shared via WhatsApp.
“If a recruitment company tries to recruit you through WhatsApp, be very careful because that’s also one of the biggest red flags,” he said.
“If they don’t have an email address or their email address doesn’t match their domain, it’s a huge red flag as well.”
He also suggested job seekers check if the salary matches the job offer in question, as if the offer seems too good to be true, it usually is.
“If the requirements are just vague, I believe that is also something which has no direction. It smells like a red flag all over,” he said.
Examples of AI-generated job adverts found online
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