Back to Africa Check

Be careful about ‘Mco-op Cash App’ Facebook account impersonating Kenya’s Co-operative Bank

IN SHORT: A Facebook account posting offers and announcements in the name of Kenya’s Co-operative Bank is fake.

The Facebook account "Mco-op CashApp" has been posting offers and announcements in the name of Co-operative Bank, one of Kenya’s largest banks. 

One of the posts, dated 4 September 2022, reads partly in Kiswahili: “A question: Mtu anapanga kununua gari anaeza itwa Car Owner? Anyway, buy your dream car with Co-op Bank Pre-owned Car financing & get 100% financing.”

This loosely translates as: “Can a person planning to buy a car be called a car owner?”

A different post thanks customers “for banking with us”. A graphic showing what appears to be the bank’s financial results is attached. 

In the comments section, Facebook users have been engaging with the account, clearly believing it is a legitimate product from the bank.

But is it?

Mcoop_False

Signs the account is not genuine

Posts made by this account appear to be mainly screenshots. Usually a new post would not show the number of comments, reactions and shares inside the image.

The bank warned social media users through its verified Facebook page that it had no association with the account.

“Dear Customer, Our attention has been drawn to a Facebook Account with the handle: @Mco-op CashApp posing as an official account of the Co-operative Bank of Kenya. We take this chance to inform our customers that we have NO ASSOCIATION with this account.”

“Don’t disclose your information or transact with this fake account. Our official Facebook page is verified. Please always check for this. The bank will bear NO RESPONSIBILITY for anyone who is scammed on the page. #KaaChonjo.”

“KaaChonjo” translates to “be careful”.

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

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 guide

Africa 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

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.