Local artists seem have become the target of unscrupulous conmen, who use this newspaper as a tool to make money.
Two weeks ago, the Limpopo Mirror was contacted by a man who claimed to be the manager of a certain up-and-coming artist from the area, and asked the reporter to do a story on the artist. He provided the reporter with information and the story was published.
A week later, we received a call from the artist in question, who had read the story about himself in the newspaper, asking where we got our information from. It became evident that the man who had claimed to be his manager was nothing of the sort.
Probing the situation, the reporter found more worried artists who claimed that a certain man (or group of fraudsters) had approached them and told them that he could get them exposure in the Limpopo Mirror for a fee (which seems to range from R1 500 and up).
From WhatsApp conversations made available to this newspaper, one can clearly see how this fraudster tried to convince one artist to pay for publicity in the newspaper, which the artist never got in the end.
The reporter confronted one of these scammers, telling him that what he was doing was wrong as the Limpopo Mirror does not charge any fee for such publicity and warning him that we would report the matter to the police if he continued, for which the man apologised.
"Those guys are fortune seekers who want to rob artists of their hard-earned cash. As if it is not difficult enough for local artists, without someone going around trying to rob them. This is not the time to create more problems for people, especially when we are faced with so many social challenges, including unemployment," the artist said.
He made a public call on people to always watch out for scammers. He also warned scammers to refrain from tricking people and look for jobs instead.
The Limpopo Mirror does not charge artists for newsworthy stories as this is part of the newspaper's commitment to promoting our local artists.