IN SHORT: Two Facebook pages are offering Kenyans money in the name of the United Nations agency Unicef. But beware, they are just impostors after your hard-earned cash.
The Facebook pages Unicef foundation promotion and UNICEF FOUNDATION PROMOTION are running cash promotions and offering loans to Kenyans on Facebook.
The pages use the name of the United Nations Children’s Fund, or Unicef, to advertise the offers. Unicef works with partners around the world to promote policies and expand access to services that protect children.
The pages encourage those interested in their offers to send a private message via Facebook.
Perhaps to lure more users, both pages also post screenshots of what appear to be bank notifications of payments received by users.
The promotions and loan offers have been posted on different dates here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But are they legit? We checked.
Don’t be scammed!
The Facebook “page transparency” section of the first page shows that it was created on 30 December 2023 under the name “Dating zone for singles”. Most of its adverts feature skimpily dressed women. It only changed its name to “Unicef foundation promotion” on 11 April 2024.
The page was created under the “public figure” category and does not link to the Unicef website. These are clear signs that it is run by an impostor.
The second page started posting on 7 April. Some of its posts feature the logos of Inua Jamii and M-Kopa. Inua Jamii is the Kenyan government programme that gives cash grants to poor and vulnerable people, while M-Kopa is an asset finance company operating in Kenya.
This is a red flag as these institutions have their own Facebook pages. An account or page that has multiple brands at different times is most likely run by an impostor.
Unicef Kenya’s verified Facebook page has been active since 20 December 2011. It does not feature any of the offers. Similarly, the offers do not exist on Unicef’s main Facebook page, which is also verified.
We found no mention of the “Unicef foundation promotion” on the organisation’s website.
These two pages and their offers are fake and should be ignored. Africa Check has previously exposed bogus promotions in the name of Unicef here and here.
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