The Zambian government on Wednesday directed its information and technology regulator to write to Facebook, to close down a number of fake pages which were created by crooks in the name of government ministers and even the president to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said the government has unearthed a scam in which about 155 fake Facebook accounts have been created in the name of President Edgar Lungu and another 434 in the names of ministers and other senior officials by fraudsters.

"So far about 49 cases have been discovered and as government we are aware that there could be so many other fake Facebook accounts fraudsters have created through which they are defrauding people," she said during her weekly press briefing.

Siliya, who is also Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said the Zambia Information and Communications Technology has been directed to write to Facebook to close down the accounts and urged citizens to be careful on how they use social media as fraudsters have invaded the social media space.

Xinhua