Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa's office on Thursday warned against phishing schemes using his name to solicit money.
"The office of the deputy president has been alerted to various instances in which suspected criminals are using email aliases incorporating elements of 'Cyril Ramaphosa' or 'deputy president' to target businesses and members of the public," his acting spokesperson Tyrone Seale said.
Seale said that the email aliases include numbers or special characters and are often linked to global domains instead of the official gov.za used by South African government departments and entities.
"Some of the suspicious mails make reference to or are addressed to credible institutions, such as the China Development Bank, as part of misleading mail recipients," he said.
"Persons receiving apparently fake emails or other means of electronic communications with offers of investment or other opportunities are advised to exercise caution, including not opening links embedded in such messages, and reporting suspicions to the police."