IN SHORT: Many young Kenyans earn a living as motorbike taxi drivers. But a Facebook page offering cheap loans to buy a bike is just looking to steal personal information.
The Facebook page “Mwanaichi loans” offers loans for motorbikes in Kenya.
The page uses the logo of Mwananchi Credit Limited, a real Kenyan financial institution. And its name “Mwanaichi” just replaces an N with an I so it looks like it represents the institution.
A typical post on the page, dated 26 January 2023, reads:
Hello dear Kenyans, own your a motorbike today at affordable prices. Our motorbikes loan terms are the best. We offer you up to 10 different types of Motorbike with daily payments of 300/=.
It adds that the motorbike loans are available with a deposit of KSh5,000 (about US$40). To get the offer, applicants have to send their identification documents, Kenya Revenue Authority details and a person to guarantee the loan.
A newer post says the loan will be available within 24 hours.
The motorbike taxi industry provides an income to many young people in Kenya.
But is the Facebook page – and its offers – legit?
Asking for personal information? It’s a phishing scam
Even though the page uses the logo of Mwananchi Credit Limited, it doesn’t link to the company’s website.
We visited the website and found links to its genuine social media accounts, including Facebook.
Its official Facebook page has more than 78,000 followers. The page’s transparency section shows it was created on 18 May 2012.
The fake page was only created on 17 November 2022 and has just 186 followers.
The fake page gives 0718311633 and 0113438870 as its official phone numbers. But those numbers can’t be found on the company's official website. Instead, the company gives 0709 147000 as its official phone number.
It has also posted a graphic with the names of its official social media accounts, asking its followers to beware of several false pages online.
Mwananchi Credit Limited previously told Africa Check that they “don't offer loans against motorbike’s logbooks, sell motorbikes or even asset finance them”.
They also clarified that their official contact number is 0709147000.
The Facebook page is bogus. It’s an attempt to steal users’ valuable personal information, a scam known as phishing.
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