Be wary of this fake ad for non-existent jobs at Kenyan oil and gas company Shell.
A job advertisement posted on Facebook in March 2024 and circulating in Kenya claims that Shell is looking for petrol station staff.
The post reads: “PETROL STATION STAFF'S NEEDED AGENTRY CALL THIS OUR OFFICIAL COMPANY NO NOW 0707411380 THE REMAINING VACANT ARE VERY FEW AND WELCOME SHELL PETROL STATION.”
Shell is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London. In Africa, Shell has operations in 24 countries across the continent. In Kenya, Shell products and services are provided by Vivo Energy.
Shell Kenya has a network of 286 service stations and employs thousands of Kenyans. The opportunity to work for Shell Kenya would be of interest to many, and many social media users have shown interest in the advertised jobs.
The advert explains how to apply, which involves contacting the number given on the advert.
The ad also appears here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. But is it genuine? We checked.
Fake job ad, fake jobs
The advertisements are poorly written with numerous grammatical errors, which is not typical of a large multinational company such as Shell. Such inconsistencies, together with the unusual request for private messages, are a departure from the standard of professional conduct expected from a reputable organisation.
We searched the careers section of Vivo Energy’s website, but could not find any vacancies similar to the ones in this ad.
Also, the phone numbers listed on the Shell and Vivo websites are not the same as in the ad.
A disclaimer on the Shell Kenya website warns the public to be wary of organisations and individuals claiming to be recruiting on its behalf.
The warning reads, in part: “Recent incidents have occurred involving organisations falsely claiming to recruit on behalf of Shell.”
“Salient points of such communications are that they come from non-Shell email addresses (e.g. from a yahoo.com address); the use of English is poor; and at some stage money is requested.”
“Take care to avoid fraudulent communications purporting to be on behalf of companies within the Shell Group.”
For more tips on how to stay safe on social media, see Africa Check’s guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.
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