FAKE NEWS: No attempt on Steve Hofmeyr’s life: News houses’ websites cloned

People running get-rich-quick schemes have recreated Maroela Media’s website. This tactic deceives and attracts potential victims to a fraudulent financial setup.

On Saturday, the media house warned the public that unknown companies are sharing links on Facebook and other social media networks that appear to be part of Maroela Media or published on Maroela Media’s website. The links on the posts lead to a page with cryptocurrencies or get-rich-quick schemes. We want to warn our readers that this page has nothing to do with Maroela Media. Maroela claimed the companies are using our trademark illegally.

“We want to warn our readers that this page has nothing to do with Maroela Media. Our trademark is being used illegally by the companies,” the media house stated.

“The hoaxes involve singers Bok van Blerk, Juanita du Plessis and Steve Hofmeyr, Helen Zille, chairperson of the DA’s federal council, Kallie Kriel, CEO of the civil rights organisation AfriForum and even evangelist Angus Buchan as if they are part of an investment scheme. This is fake news and part of a hoax.”

One of the posts leads to a page that looks exactly like Maroela’s. The article states that recently, Steve Hofmeyr, a well-known Afrikaans musician and activist, became the victim of a brutal attack that almost cost him his life. “This incident shocked the public and drew attention to the ongoing threats against Afrikaners, as well as to the new investment platform created by Hofmeyr – Freedom Fund,” the article reads.

Devon Hofmeyr, Steve’s son, confirmed to The Citizen on Monday that there was no attempt on his father’s life.

Maroela CEO highlights ongoing struggle with AI-cloned websites

Speaking to The Citizen on Sunday, Maroela Media CEO Susan Lombaard said that she learned that other media houses are affected similarly at a recent conference she attended. “The websites are cloned using artificial intelligence (AI). We have been struggling with this for a long time.
Several influential individuals in the Afrikaans community have been named to promote this. However, we recently managed to close one page, but another pops up as soon as we close one.”

According to Lombaard, two videos of Kallie Kriel, head of Afriforum, and Flip Buys from the Solidarity Movement in conversation shot in Maroeloa’s studio were altered to make it look like they promoted the scheme. She says that people must always look at the URL of a page they open. “Ensure you are on Maroela’s website. We pride ourselves in reliable reporting and acting with integrity, so this is a great problem for us.”

The verified Facebook page for Maroela Media is https://www.facebook.com/MaroelaMedia/. Lombaard warns that the public should check that they navigate from the verified page before clicking any links.

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