South Africa’s Competition Commission has warned members of the public about a circulating fake price list that claims to be price guidelines for hygiene and healthcare products issued by the Commission.

The body has also warned against criminals pretending to be investigators from the Commission, who have been approaching businesses attempting to solicit bribes.

Read the full statement below:

BEWARE OF A CIRCULATING FAKE PRICE LIST ON ESSENTIAL ITEMS

The Competition Commission would like to warn members of the public about a circulating fake price list that purports to be price guidelines for hygiene and healthcare products issued by the Commission.

The Commission has not issued price guidelines for any items and therefore the price list guideline. We are, however, investigating unreasonable price increases on essential items in line with the regulations issued by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel.

We urge members of the public to ignore this fake list and discourage anyone from circulating it. Anyone who continues to distribute the list must be urgently reported to 084 743 0000.

It has also come to the attention of the Commission that there are criminal elements purporting to be our investigators who are interacting with businesses with the intention of soliciting bribes.

It is important to note that all our telephonic investigations are accompanied by written correspondence, either before or after a telephone call from an investigator. Further, our investigators can be verified by either calling 0123943378 or sending an email to [email protected].

The Commission has brought the activities of the bogus investigators to the attention of law enforcement agencies.

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