A Limpopo man was shocked to find himself caught up in an online chatroom used by locals to connect with strangers to make quick cash in exchange for sex.
Tshediso Mabelane, 35, from Polokwane recently opened a criminal case after he discovered that someone was allegedly going on the online platform called Seshego Chatbox while pretending to be him.
In recent years governments across the globe have had to make moves towards fighting cybercrimes by coming up with tighter internet laws. In SA the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill of 2017 was introduced to tackle such issues.
Mabelane, a businessman in the finance sector, said he only realised that his name and contact information were being used online when a 21-year-old woman contacted him offering sex in exchange for payment.
Mabelane said the woman sent him screen grabs which reflected that someone had apparently been using his contact number and name to solicit prostitution.
There were a number of posts stating that Mabelane was a rich man looking to pay for sex with both men and women.
"I will pay for anything you want first come first serve, girls and boys. I'm divorced just looking for fun," reads the post from April 18. He said his phone and e-mail inbox was also flooded with similar requests.
The message referring to Mabelane was followed by a request from another user asking for any woman around Polokwane in exchange for R1 500.
He also showed the Sowetan e-mails from men and women saying they were interested in sleeping with him for payment.
"This person just went wild. They were posting things purporting to be me and soliciting things from strangers," he said.
Mabelane said he had to deactivate his WhatsApp messenger account.
Sowetan also explored the chatroom which was filled with sexual requests. One post read: "Any virgin for one round of sex at R3500, should be between 16-18 years."
Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said they might have to refer Mabelane's case to the specialist Cyber Crimes Unit depending on how the investigations unfolded.
Gauteng based IT specialist John Rasefate said the website "appeared strange" as it did not use a standard Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and seemed to be operating through broken links.
Man sucked into sex chats
A Limpopo man was shocked to find himself caught up in an online chatroom used by locals to connect with strangers to make quick cash in exchange for sex.
Tshediso Mabelane, 35, from Polokwane recently opened a criminal case after he discovered that someone was allegedly going on the online platform called Seshego Chatbox while pretending to be him.
In recent years governments across the globe have had to make moves towards fighting cybercrimes by coming up with tighter internet laws. In SA the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill of 2017 was introduced to tackle such issues.
Mabelane, a businessman in the finance sector, said he only realised that his name and contact information were being used online when a 21-year-old woman contacted him offering sex in exchange for payment.
Mabelane said the woman sent him screen grabs which reflected that someone had apparently been using his contact number and name to solicit prostitution.
There were a number of posts stating that Mabelane was a rich man looking to pay for sex with both men and women.
"I will pay for anything you want first come first serve, girls and boys. I'm divorced just looking for fun," reads the post from April 18. He said his phone and e-mail inbox was also flooded with similar requests.
The message referring to Mabelane was followed by a request from another user asking for any woman around Polokwane in exchange for R1 500.
He also showed the Sowetan e-mails from men and women saying they were interested in sleeping with him for payment.
"This person just went wild. They were posting things purporting to be me and soliciting things from strangers," he said.
Mabelane said he had to deactivate his WhatsApp messenger account.
Sowetan also explored the chatroom which was filled with sexual requests. One post read: "Any virgin for one round of sex at R3500, should be between 16-18 years."
Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said they might have to refer Mabelane's case to the specialist Cyber Crimes Unit depending on how the investigations unfolded.
Gauteng based IT specialist John Rasefate said the website "appeared strange" as it did not use a standard Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and seemed to be operating through broken links.
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