Chidimma Adetshina, the beauty queen of South Africa, is having a citizenship problem. The 23-year-old law student, who rose to fame as a Miss South Africa finalist, has come under scrutiny for her nationality. Given her Nigerian and Mozambican ancestry, there have been concerns expressed regarding her eligibility to represent South Africa.

Concerns have been raised over the legitimacy of Adetshina’s South African citizenship due to allegations of identity theft against her mother. She was forced to leave the Miss South Africa contest due to the issue, stating that she was worried about her family’s safety.

According to the BBC, the Department of Home Affairs began investigating her case after she became a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant but faced criticism as people questioned her eligibility to compete because her mother has Mozambican roots and her father is Nigerian.

The controversy sparked a wave of xenophobic vitriol in South Africa, after which Ms Adetshina told the BBC she would need therapy to recover. The Department of Home Affairs made the announcement about the withdrawal of her ID papers to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Tommy Makhode, the top civil servant at the department, said Ms Adetshina’s mother would also have her documents cancelled as they had both failed to meet Monday’s deadline to provide reasons why they should be eligible to keep them.

Adetshina, who has not lived in Nigeria for two decades, received an invitation to represent Nigeria in the Miss Universe competition despite the controversy. This unexpected turn of events has further complicated her situation.

New Delhi:

Identity theft and loan fraud have become a major concern in today’s world with Anupam Gupta, a financial influencer, being the latest victim. His name and address were used to take a loan without his knowledge and he was being “chased by Mobikwik agents” to repay this loan, he said.

Though Mobikwik has halted the loan calls for now and is trying to resolve this, the fact that a finfluencer, who is also a chartered accountant, could fall victim to such a fraud shows the grim reality of identity theft.

Sharing screenshots of his CIBIL (which maintains credit files in India) enquiry on X, Mr Gupta said a Rs 30,000 personal loan was taken from Lendbox, an online peer lending platform, using his name and contact details.

From 28th April onwards, the calls and WhatsApp pings started. @MobiKwik collection agents said repay the loan. I said I have taken no loan. When I asked for details, here is the ledger they sent me. pic.twitter.com/z9c5uPEnn5

— Anupam Gupta (@b50) June 1, 2024

“From 28th April onwards, the calls and WhatsApp pings started. @MobiKwik collection agents said repay the loan. I said I have taken no loan. When I asked for details, here is the ledger they sent me,” said Mr Gupta, who runs the investing podcast ‘Paisa Vaisa’.

He said the agents refused to listen to him and provided him with a UPI number that had received the loan amount. But it did not belong to him, said Mr Gupta and filed a police complaint.

He said he had received a CIBIL notification a month earlier about a loan being taken using his account, which he had ignored.

“Folks, please be careful. My mistake was that when I got the CIBIL notification, I did not pay attention. I should have flagged it off then and there. But I didn’t. And now I have to face these calls,” he said.

Responding to him online, Mobikwik said all follow-up calls and process-related adjustments regarding the loan have been halted and they are trying to resolve the matter. 

Mr Gupta isn’t the only person who has been a victim of such a loan fraud.

Piyush Sinha, another chartered accountant, had a loan default reported by Mobikwik in April though he had not taken any such loan. Raising the issue with Lendbox, from where the loan was taken, did not help and they asserted the loan was taken by Mobikwik, he said.