The Bank of Namibia (BON) is warning the public to be alert to suspicious business schemes operating in the country.

According to the central bank, it has been inundated with concerns over a number of questionable business activities being conducted in different forms in Namibia through business concept presentations, unsolicited short message services (SMS) or telephone calls to individual cell-phones. One such SMS announces that a cellphone owner has won prize money and which the targeted person needs to claim from the Bank of Namibia.
“The Bank of Namibia is hereby cautioning members of the public about these schemes operating in Namibia, whose business practices present the same characteristic as illegal money-making ventures, in terms of the Banking Institutions Act of 1998 as amended. This is because the bank is mandated to protect the interests of the public, which is embedded in the banking law. Furthermore, the Bank of Namibia denounces SMS being sent to cell-phone owners announcing prize money they won and advised to claim from the Bank of Namibia as fraudulent and criminal,” said Ndangi Katoma BON’s strategic communications director.
He said that the bank is investigating these questionable business entities. The central bank has requested promoters of various suspicious schemes to come forward and make presentations to the Bank of Namibia on their activities, so that the bank can advise the public accordingly.