“With the situation being experienced around the world, we have come up with a program of distributing free gas cookers to at least 200 homesteads in each Ward,” reads a post on the Facebook page Free Gas Cylinders From K-Gas Kenya.
It shows a photo of gas cylinders with the brand name K-Gas, a product of East African oil marketing company KenolKobil.
“This program is free and fair and will be based on the first book, first-served basis,” the post reads. “This is our corporate social responsibility. You can book the 6kg gas cylinder or the 13kg gas cylinder.”
It links to a page on what it calls “our official website”.
The page appears to be a booking form. And here is the catch: it says “all applicants are required to pay a delivery fee of ksh 250 for the 6kg gas cylinders and Ksh 350 for the 13 kg gas cylinder”.
There are a few hints that the post is a scam. The link is not to the official KenolKobil website. And there is no such offer on the real website, or on the company’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
On 15 May 2020, KenolKobil posted a warning about scam giveaways. “Please beware of the below fake promotion. K-Gas is not giving away free cylinders and the below page does not belong to us or any of our authorized K-Gas dealers,” it said on Facebook.
Back then, the promotion ad on Facebook, which has since been deleted, led to another phony website mimicking K-Gas.
Africa Check has previously fact-checked similar offers and found them to be fake. – Dancan Bwire
It shows a photo of gas cylinders with the brand name K-Gas, a product of East African oil marketing company KenolKobil.
“This program is free and fair and will be based on the first book, first-served basis,” the post reads. “This is our corporate social responsibility. You can book the 6kg gas cylinder or the 13kg gas cylinder.”
It links to a page on what it calls “our official website”.
Delivery fee
The page appears to be a booking form. And here is the catch: it says “all applicants are required to pay a delivery fee of ksh 250 for the 6kg gas cylinders and Ksh 350 for the 13 kg gas cylinder”.
There are a few hints that the post is a scam. The link is not to the official KenolKobil website. And there is no such offer on the real website, or on the company’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
‘Fake promotion’
On 15 May 2020, KenolKobil posted a warning about scam giveaways. “Please beware of the below fake promotion. K-Gas is not giving away free cylinders and the below page does not belong to us or any of our authorized K-Gas dealers,” it said on Facebook.
Back then, the promotion ad on Facebook, which has since been deleted, led to another phony website mimicking K-Gas.
Africa Check has previously fact-checked similar offers and found them to be fake. – Dancan Bwire
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