Consumer Rights · Scam Alert · October 6, 2026, 4:46 PM CDT
Key Facts
- KwaZulu-Natal police said on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, that WhatsApp messages are offering jobs in the South African Police Service (SAPS) for R15,000.[1]
- The profile picture on the fake offers is the real photo of a KZN Deputy Commissioner, Major-General SB Ngcobo.[1]
- Victims are sent an application form at once, then told to pay a R7,500 deposit, with the balance due when they sign employment papers.[1]
- Police: “employment in the SAPS is not for sale,” and anyone asking for payment is committing a crime.[1]
A WhatsApp message arrives with a senior police officer’s face on it, a job offer and an application form. Then comes the price: R15,000, starting with R7,500 up front. KwaZulu-Natal police say it is a scam.
The alert came from police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Magwaza. He described how the scheme runs: scammers message people on WhatsApp, promise work in the police service and “immediately forward an application form to the prospective victim.”[1]
The money comes next. “The scammers demand R15,000 for the purported employment opportunity,” he said. “Victims are, however, instructed to pay a deposit of R7,500 with the balance payable upon signing employment papers.”[1]
The face on the message
The detail that makes this version dangerous is the picture. Police say the WhatsApp profile photo used in the bogus offers belongs to Major-General SB Ngcobo, the KZN Deputy Commissioner for Corporate Services.[1]
That matters because a stranger’s number is easy to doubt, and a senior officer’s face is not. A profile photo is something anyone can copy, so it proves nothing about who is typing. The report does not say whether Major-General Ngcobo’s name is also used in the messages.[1]
How it unfolds, step by step
The animation below follows the order the police describe. Each step is a sentence from the October 6 report, word for word. The report does not print the messages themselves, so this is a picture of the scheme, not a screenshot.
This has been tried before
Police jobs have been sold as a scam for years, in different wrappers. In July 2024, scammers phoned job applicants around East London and King William’s Town, posing as police officers, and asked for R3,000 or R5,000 for entry-level trainee posts. Spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said, “SAPS employment offers do not require any payment.”[2]
Some of those victims took a bus from KwaZulu-Natal to King William’s Town after being promised training that never happened.[2]
WhatsApp was already a channel in 2014, when SAPS warned about fake constable adverts circulating on WhatsApp and a website. Then-spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said, “The advertisements form part of a scam aimed at misleading the public.”[3]
How real police hiring works
SAPS says real posts are advertised through recognized official channels: newspapers and its official social media, not by SMS.[2] In 2014 it also described a long vetting process after applying, including criminal record checks, fingerprint checks and psychometric tests, with final approval from the provincial and national commissioners.[3]
None of that includes paying a stranger on WhatsApp.
The SAPS YouTube channel also has its own walkthrough of how to register a profile and apply for a vacancy on its e-Recruitment Portal. It is below.[4]
Dashed outline: KwaZulu-Natal province, where the police alert was issued. The alert names no town, so the pin only marks Durban for scale. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
What’s Disputed or Unconfirmed
- The messages themselves. The alert does not publish the wording, the phone numbers or the form. We show none of them.[1]
- How many people paid. The report gives no count of victims or losses.[1]
- The older cases. The 2024 and 2014 warnings are separate incidents. They show the pattern, not that the same people are behind the 2026 messages.[2][3]
How to Protect Yourself
- Do not pay anyone for a police job. SAPS says employment is not for sale.[1][2]
- Treat a profile photo as meaning nothing. Anyone can copy a picture of a real officer.[1]
- Apply only through advertised SAPS channels, not through a WhatsApp contact who found you.[2]
- Keep the messages, the number and any proof of payment. Do not delete them.
- Report such messages at the nearest police station, as police ask.[1]
How to Verify This Yourself
Read the report of the police alert at The Post, and compare it with the 2024 and 2014 warnings in the references below.
References
- Dawood, Z., “SAPS job scam: KZN police warn against R15,000 WhatsApp employment offers,” The Post, October 6, 2026. Secondary (news report of the police alert). thepost.co.za
- “Police warn of latest SAPS job scam,” IOL, July 30, 2024. Secondary (news report of the SAPS warning). iol.co.za
- “SAPS warn of fake employment opportunities,” SAnews (South African Government News Agency), September 1, 2014. Primary (government news agency carrying the SAPS statement). sanews.gov.za
- South African Police Service, “How to Register Your Profile and Apply for a Vacancy via the SAPS e-Recruitment Portal,” YouTube (channel SAPoliceService). Primary (the police service’s own video). youtube.com
Investigative methodology: this post was rewritten from the reports linked above. Quotation marks mark wording as it appears in those reports. The animation uses sentences from the October 6 report and is labelled as a description because the messages were not published. No wording was invented.
Kemetic Minds Editorial Desk
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