IN SHORT: More Facebook pages are offering huge discounts on water tanks. But be warned, these are run by scammers.
The Facebook page Roto Tanks Ltd would have you believe it is run by Roto Moulders Limited, a company that manufactures water tanks and similar products in Kenya.
It uses the same name as the company and has the company’s products as its profile picture and in its posts.
One of its ads, published on 3 June 2023, reads: “OFFER! OFFER! Looking for a Water Tank? Choose Roto, Africa's leading water tank manufacturer for assured quality and get a huge discount of 35% with free delivery countrywide. All deliveries are done within 24 hours at no extra cost upto your doorstep! Visit our online shop through the following link to make your order: https://www.rototanksgroup.com/shop.”
A similar ad was posted on 30 May. Both ads have attracted engagements from Facebook users, with hundreds of comments combined.
The page reaches out to those who comment and gives them a cell phone number for enquiries.
But is the Facebook page and its offers legit? We checked.
Signs of scam
The “page transparency” section of this page shows it was created on 27 May and made its first post the same day. A newly created page with attractive offers is usually a sign of a scam.
We noted the page has not linked any website, email addresses or phone numbers on its “about” section. This is a red flag since reputable companies provide them in this section and not in ads only, as is the case with this page.
Africa Check previously contacted the Roto Moulders Limited and were told that the official website is rotomoulders.com.
Under the “contact us” section of the website, the company provides links to its official Facebook and Instagram pages. There are also phone numbers and the company’s physical address.
The official Facebook page, Roto Tanks, was created on 13 February 2014 and has over 50,000 followers. None of the heavily discounted offers from the other page are advertised on it. The company has warned the public not to fall for scams.
The Facebook page Roto Tanks Ltd and the offers are fake.
Africa Check has previously debunked similar fake Facebook pages using the company’s name to scam users.
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