By Gomolemo Mothomogolo
A man from Mabopane has been battling to get his Identity back for more than 20 years, after his ID was allegedly cloned, as the scam is popularly called. The 43-year-old Michael Maluleke said he battled for two decades to obtain his identity document despite being a South African and in possession of a valid birth certificate. But even that too turned into a nightmare as there is another person using the same ID numbers in the Department of Home Affairs system. Maluleke’s mother, Mercy Maluleke said obtaining an identity document for her son wasn’t easy from the start. “I struggled to obtain an identity document for my son despite being a South African citizen. I had the birth certificate but when he applied for his ID document, I encountered problems. “I struggled until 1998 when I approached the ombudsman. The ombudsman intervened and I was assisted with my complaint. I managed to get the ID document from the Department of Home Affairs,” explained Mercy. She said she thought the issue was resolved but his son struggled again to obtain the smart card. “In 2020, my son applied for a smart card and the application was unsuccessful. I was informed that there are two Michael Maluleke’s on the system with the same ID number. He only got the smart card a year later. I opened a case earlier this year because initially I thought this problem was resolved but it wasn’t,” she added.
Michael said the cloned ID is also affecting him at work and other aspects of his life. “I thought this issue was resolved until I encountered problems at work. I tried to gain entry at a company I work for as I do everything. But after it upgraded its system, I was denied entry because the face that appeared in the system was of another person,” said Maluleke. “I can’t apply for loans; I can’t get married because this person got married with my ID number. I applied for an RDP house, and I am informed that I already have one,” he added. According to South Africa’s largest credit bureau TransUnion, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world and the crime can continue for months undetected by its victims because it is so silent. TransUnion gave the following tips to help protect yourself against identity theft:
- Never click on a link or provide sensitive information.
- “Phishing is a major part of identity theft and fraud. You’ll get an official-looking email from a bank or information provider, offering you information or asking you to verify some aspect of your account. Don’t do it. No reputable company will ever ask you to verify details in an email. Never click on any link in an email, no matter how legitimate it looks,” stick to legitimate sites for online shopping.
- Secure your online identity by ensuring that you have strong passwords for important accounts such as your banking, online shopping and email. Change them regularly and don’t use the same password for all your online profiles.
- The best way to check if your identity and credit are safe is to check your bank and card statements and credit reports.
The Department of Home Affairs had not responded at the time of publication.
