A message circulating on WhatsApp in Nigeria claims Coca-Cola is giving out cash to celebrate the beverage company’s 135th birthday.
The poorly written message reads: “Coca-Cola's 135th Anniversary Celebration! win 416464 ₦ for free. I Have Received Mine.”
The message includes a link to an equally poorly designed website where people are asked to answer three questions.
It seems unlikely but is this a genuine offer from Coca-Cola?
Protect your personal information
Coca-Cola did celebrate its 135th anniversary in May 2021. Posts about this can be found on Coca-Cola Nigeria’s official Instagram and Twitter pages.
But we could not find any similar message or competition on any of Coca-Cola’s websites or social media handles.
The multibillion-dollar global company is very unlikely to run a promotion only on unofficial websites and through WhatsApp messages. This is a red flag that the giveaway is a scam.
Africa Check has debunked similar scams that use well-known brand names in attempts to get sensitive personal information from people. For more tips, read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment