IN SHORT: The Higher Education Loans Board helps students pay for after-school studies. But its work has prompted scores of fake Helb pages to spring up.
Fake Facebook pages using the name of Helb, Kenya’s Higher Education Loans Board, have been posting dodgy messages offering to help students.
Helb grants loans to students wanting a tertiary education.
One of the pages, “The Higher Education Loans Board”, was created on 7 January 2022. It posts messages about where people can access Helb services.
Another, with the same name, was created on 23 October 2020. It has published posts claiming to offer help to students applying for loans.
Yet another page was created on 16 February 2019. It has announced a supposed extension of the deadline for loan applications.
A fourth, also using the “The Higher Education Loans Board” name, has not posted anything yet.
None of the pages have Facebook’s blue tick verification badge, which would indicate that they are legit.
Links to real social media accounts on Helb website
Helb’s official website links to the agency’s official social media accounts.
Its real Facebook account is “The Higher Education Loans Board Page”.
The page isn’t verified, but it posts consistent messages and promptly responds to queries from Kenyan students.
On 20 January 2023, Helb posted a warning on Facebook about the fake pages using its name.
The post begins “Kaa radar” – Kiswahili for “be alert”.
It goes on: “Beware of fake HELB Pages. Only seek information from the genuine HELB Social media platforms -Facebook[https://www.facebook.com/HELBpage] and Twitter[https://twitter.com/HELBpage].”
The imposter pages are fake, and the information on them is false.
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