IN SHORT: The photos posted by these two Facebook accounts will have you believe that they belong to the Kenyan president, but they don’t. They’re run by scammers.
The Facebook accounts H E Williams Rutto and H E Williams Rutto regularly post photos of Kenyan president William Ruto at different functions.
Both accounts use his name and photo as their profile pictures. Most of their posts are well written and appear harmless, leading Facebook users to believe that they are run by Ruto.
But two of their now-deleted posts attracted our attention. Both were posted on 21 June 2023 and read: “Good morning,Get school fee and business loans now.. Those who are interested,inbox me you're full names,telephone number and your location for consideration.”
Another post that appeared on both accounts shows motorbikes and claims these are giveaways from the Inua Jamii programme. It asks those interested to reach out via inbox to apply for them.
Inua Jamii, Kiswahili for “uplift the community”, is a Kenyan government programme that aims to improve the lives of underprivileged and vulnerable Kenyans through regular grants. These include the elderly, people with severe disabilities, orphans and vulnerable children.
The similarities in the posts on both accounts suggest they are being run by the same person.
But are they legit and are the offers genuine? We checked.
Imposter Facebook accounts
Facebook allows public figures to verify their pages, which then show a “blue tick” verification badge.
Ruto’s official Facebook page, William Samoei Ruto, is verified and has over 2.4 million followers. None of the two accounts are verified and have very few followers.
We found out that their professional-looking posts have been copied from Ruto’s official Facebook page, perhaps to appear convincing. But none of the Inua Jamii offers are posted on Ruto’s verified page.
For two days, we noted the accounts delete the posts making offers after a few hours and later repost them. This is a clear sign of a scam.
The accounts’ requests to have Facebook users reach out privately via inbox could be an attempt to scam them.
The Inua Jamii programme does not issue loans and assets as claimed by the accounts but rather gives cash grants to the poor and vulnerable. So no loan offers are posted on the programme’s official Facebook page.
Both Facebook accounts are fake and their offers should be ignored.
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