Warning spreads about “Department of Home Affairs” scheme – Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

A warning is spreading on social media that claims a “group” is going around homes while claiming to be officials from the Department of Home Affairs. However the warning claims that these are criminals just looking to rob homes after unsuspecting house owners let them through the door.

LACKING CONTEXT

An example of such a warning can be seen below on social media –

Security Alert: Be warned, there is a group going to homes and pretending to be officials from home affairs. They have documents with the letterhead Department of Home Affairs and claim to be confirming that everyone has a valid ID for the upcoming elections. They are robbing homes. Take note there is no initiative like that from the government. Send this on your neighbourhood group chat. They are everywhere and they look presentable

The warning appears to have come from the South African Department for Home Affairs, and as such this specific warning is only valid for those living in South Africa.

Not only does the warning original from the Home Affairs department in South Africa, it has also been circulating for a number of years. In October 2017, the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa published the warning on their website here. However the search on social media reveals that the same message has been spreading since 2016.


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It seems a Facebook page purportedly representing the Department of Home Affairs since 2011 (which curiously lacks Facebook’s verification tick) is periodically publishing the same warning to its page, which results in the warning going viral from time to time.

Many social media users either copy and paste the message themselves, meaning it becomes separated from its relevant locale, or social media users fail to realise that the post was made from a page in South Africa and incorrectly assume it is relevant to their country when that is not the case.

Either way, the warning is a 2016 warning relevant to a scheme that was allegedly occurring in South Africa. Countries where this warning has spread – including Malaysia, the UK and the United States, do not have a Department of Home Affairs. Australia does, but this warning is not relevant to them.

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