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Naas Botha livid about instant wealth ads

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PHOTO: Gallo Images
PHOTO: Gallo Images

Former Springbok rugby legend and SuperSport presenter Naas Botha is annoyed about fake advertisements featuring his face on social media.

Scammers use pictures of Botha and his family without their permission and advertise “opportunities to make millions” with cyber currency Bitcoin.

He says the ads are an infringement of his human rights.

“It’s a huge joke – but it’s a joke you can’t get to stop. We’ve reported these ads to Facebook hundreds of times but nothing’s come of it. How hard can it be to establish who’s behind it? Obviously someone’s paying for it,” a livid Botha told YOU.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous. We’ve tried finding Facebook representatives in South Africa, but we couldn’t find a number anywhere.”

YOU has traced several of the advertisements online and seemingly most people don’t realise they’re fake. The adverts appear on several Facebook groups, as well as websites. In one of them, the text next to Botha face states: “After recovering back [sic] from bankruptcy, he became a real-life Robin Hood.”

naas botha

“Any reasonable person can see it’s fake news. I just want it to end now. I hope Facebook does something soon,” Botha told YOU.

The ads urge people to invest $250 (R3 625). On 15 September Botha appealed to his social-media followers not to fall for the scam.

“Good morning everyone. Please stay away from get-rich-quick schemes. The Bitcoin ad about me is fake. It’s a scam,” he wrote.

Clinton van der Berg, SuperSport spokesman, has confirmed the ads are false.

On 27 September YOU took up the matter with Facebook’s head in Africa, Nunu Ntshingila, but to date he hasn’t responded to the email sent.

The only response so far has come from Itumeleng Morule of Idea Engineers, a PR agency based in Johannesburg who handles communications for Facebook in South Africa, saying a company team would be asked to investigate.

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