IN SHORT: Facebook pages claiming to change the financial lives of Kenyans through the "Illuminati Brotherhood" are popping up all the time. Be aware of the signs of a scam and be careful not to become one of their next victims.
The Illuminati Freemason Temple Kenya Facebook page claims to offer great life changes by recruiting people into what it calls the “Illuminati Brotherhood”.
The message repeated daily on the page is: "Success is by choice, JOIN ILLUMINATI BROTHERHOOD FOR FREE TODAY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE, JUST CALL OR WHATSAPP 0710426532 TUPIGIE USIOGOPE KUBADILISHA MAISHA YAKO 0710426532".
The Kiswahili phrase translates as: "CALL US DO NOT FEAR TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE 0710426532".
The BBC has discussed in detail how the Illuminati was formed more than 200 years ago in opposition to the influence of religion in everyday life, and the many conspiracy theories surrounding this society.
News website Vox defines the secret society "Illuminati" as a popular conspiracy theory, referring to "shadowy cabals supposedly running the world".
In Kenya, members of the Illuminati are believed to be a society of Satanists who practise human sacrifice in exchange for wealth. Anyone who is thought to be a member of the Illuminati is subject to condemnation and ostracism.
Freemasonry has been described as "the world's largest secret society – an oath-bound society, often devoted to fellowship, moral discipline, and mutual aid, which conceals at least some of its rites, customs, or activities from the public". It is often confused with and used as a synonym for the Illuminati.
The posts by the Illuminati Freemason Temple Kenya Facebook page are accompanied by photos of people holding wads of cash. They are trying to entice Facebook users to join.
But are these offers – and the Facebook page – to be trusted? We checked.
‘Great life change’ offer is a scam
Africa Check contacted the number on WhatsApp. They then called us back. The caller claimed that as part of the registration process, we needed to go to an M-Pesa shop to receive the money.
M-Pesa is a mobile money financial service provided by Safaricom that is widely used in Kenya. Safaricom is the largest telecommunications company in the country.
The caller gave us a number and asked us to save it as "0722000000" and go to the nearest M-Pesa shop and wait for a call.
"0722000000" is the official Safaricom number, so we refused.
Typically, after saving the given number as "0722000000", scammers direct the person to the nearest Safaricom agent, just like we were, and call the person back.
The caller is falsely identified on the person's phone as "0722000000". They then tell the unsuspecting person to hand the ringing phone to the agent for assistance.
The agent would believe the call to be from Safaricom customer service, as the caller is stored as "0722000000". The agent would then follow the caller's instructions to carry out an M-Pesa transaction, and be scammed. This is a common type of fraud targeting M-Pesa shops in Kenya.
The page is fake and the offer of riches is a scam.
Read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them to protect yourself from online fraudsters.
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