Warning about scammers impersonating one of South Africa’s richest women

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has issued a public warning against persons impersonating Sygnia founder and CEO Magda Wierzycki.

In a statement released on Wednesday, 25 June 2025, the FSCA warned the public to exercise caution with persons using WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram purporting to be associated with Wierzycka.

The FSCA said it received information that some individuals are using the Sygnia CEO’s persona on these social media platforms to solicit investments from members of the public. 

“These individuals are not authorised to render any financial services and are misrepresenting themselves to be affiliated with Sygnia and Ms Magda Wierzycka,” the authority said. 

“Sygnia has confirmed that neither it nor its CEO are associated with the impersonators.”

Sygnia’s website also has an urgent alert urging users to beware of fraudulent Telegram and WhatsApp groups pretending to be affiliated with Sygnia and Sygnia staff members.

The alert urges the public not to engage with these malicious and fraudulent groups in any way, and to direct all queries to [email protected].

Without commenting on the business of the impersonators, the FSCA pointed out that offering financial products and services in South Africa requires its authorisation. 

The FSCA said it attempted to contact the impersonators, but they were not reachable. 

“The public is strongly urged to exercise caution when considering investment or trading offers on social media platforms or any unsolicited offers,” the organisation said.

The FSCA recommended that the public verify the following information before conducting financial services business with others:

• Verify that an entity or individual is authorised by the FSCA to provide financial products and services, including giving recommendations about how to invest. 
• Verify what category of advice the person is registered to provide, as there are instances where companies or people are registered to provide basic advice for a low-risk product and then offer advice on far more complex and risky products. 
• Verify that the FSP number utilised by the entity or individual offering financial services matches to name of the FSP on the FSCA database.

Individuals can verify the status and FSP number of a service provider or someone who claims to be an authorised service provider through the FSCA’s website.