Herewith yet another SMS / text message scam doing the rounds in South Africa. This was submitted by one of our readers.

The SMS message reads as follows:

I have received a SMS on my mobile phone stating that I received R125000-00 from a Mr. George Yarkah (+27)0799335076 on behalf of Samsung promotions. There is also a Mr. Mike(?) 0835869658 involved. My suspicions where raised when I received a sms that I must pay a release fee. Upon further investigation I found that Samsung are not running such a promotion.

Editor Note 1:
The reader is absolutely correct that Samsung is NOT running such a promotion .... no big company just gives away large sums of cash because they felt you deserved it.

Editor Note 2:
We certainly hope that the incredibly invasive RICA laws that were introduced into South African Law will stop this with immediate effect when the law kicks into full effect in 16 days time.  Should we continue to see such SMS messages floating around South Africa after RICA goes into effect we will take action against RICA in this regard. After 1 July 2011 NOBODY should be able to send such sms / text messages without being able to be traced and prosecuted immediately. So ... let's see if this RICA law is actually going to stop crime in South Africa or is merely another law to invade personal privacy of all South Africans while still allowing criminals to operate in SA. Time will most certainly tell.