In January 2020, a Twitter account was attributed to Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze named @PaulMotaze. The account has nearly 1,050 subscribers and is followed by public administrations such as the Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reform (Minfopra), media (such as CRTV), and journalists. This is not the Minister’s account, neither is his account named @MotazPaul.
"The Minister of Finance informs the public, especially social network users, that a Twitter profile has been fraudulently opened in his name," a release signed by Louis Paul Motaze indicated on December 14.
Motaze’s real Twitter account
The official explains that all his social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) are accessible under the name @RealMotaze.
He is therefore present on Twitter under the @RealMotaze identifier. However, this account has been suspended. This was surely done by Twitter to guarantee a "secure environment" to its users. "If we suspect an account has been hacked or compromised, we may suspend it until it can be secured and restored to the account owner to reduce potentially malicious activity caused by the compromise," Twitter explains here.
Investigation
Last July, Twitter launched an investigation into massive hacking that targeted accounts of personalities such as the newly elected US President Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates.
The impersonation of personalities is one of the most recurring scams on social media in Cameroon. The National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC) found 3,016 fake personality accounts on social media between October 2018 and April 2020.
Given this situation, the Minfi calls on Internet users to be vigilant against malicious acts that fraudsters could commit by impersonating him. He also reserves the right to take legal action against anyone who would publish fake information aimed at scamming honest citizens by using his name and photo.
Patricia Ngo Ngouem