IN SHORT: A Facebook page claiming to belong to Nigerian musician David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, is offering users money, jobs and food. Although the singer is known for his philanthropic acts, the page is impersonating him.
“My Name Is DAVIDO. I Want To Help The First 80,000 People to SEND ME MESSAGE And follow me, will receive the Following Gift Below…” reads a post on the Facebook page Davido-OBO.
The 22 June 2023 post then lists the gifts, such as money, jobs and food. It has attracted over 1,000 comments and more than 400 likes.
The account uses the name and photos of David Adeleke, also known as Davido. He is a popular Nigerian singer and often makes headlines as a philanthropist.
But is the page really run by the award-winning artist? We checked.
No ‘gift offers’ on Davido’s official page
Africa Check found the official page of the singer. It has over 8 million followers and is verified by Meta. In comparison, the suspicious account has just over 2,000 followers and does not carry the “blue tick” verification badge.
Davido’s official page was created on 24 May 2013 while the suspicious one was created on 25 April 2023.
The bogus page uses a tactic known as engagement bait to increase its reach. It asks users to comment on and share its posts, follow it and invite others to do the same.
We also couldn’t find any of the offers on Davido’s verified page. It is unlikely that he would own two Facebook pages and use one specifically for such giveaways.
Users should also be careful not to give out their personal information as the page asks them to do, privately. This could lead to identity fraud.
To help protect yourself against online scams, read our guide to spotting investment scams on Facebook.
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