IN SHORT: The governor of Homa Bay county in western Kenya is not giving out loans. She has one verified Facebook page, others using her name are fake and should be ignored.
The Facebook account Hon Gladys Wanga would have you believe that it is run by Kenyan politician Gladys Wanga.
Wanga is the governor of Homa Bay county in western Kenya.
The account uses her name and photos to offer different kinds of loans to Kenyans on Facebook. It claims that users can access up to KSh150,000 (US$986) in loans within three minutes.
A typical post from the account reads: “How much loan do you need in your Mpesa account right now! Apply it in 3 minutes only. WhatsApp us through 0745674731 To Apply.”
Perhaps in a bid to entice users, the account’s posts include images of bundles of cash and screenshots of messages from users who claim to have received the loans.
The posts have attracted dozens of engagements from Facebook users trying their luck.
The account has posted the offers on its timeline here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But is the account and the offers legit? We checked.
Ignore imposter account
Africa Check noted that the screenshots used by the account, supposedly messages from users acknowledging receipt of their loans, have been repeated on different dates. This is a red flag as we would expect to see the latest screenshots from new recipients of the loans.
The account’s posts are poorly written with omitted words, odd punctuations and random capitalisation. These are signs of suspicious accounts.
It asks interested users to contact it privately on WhatsApp to claim their rewards. When we texted the WhatsApp number asking for a loan, we were told that there was a “security fee” for each loan amount. We refused to pay it because it was a clear sign of a scam.
Wanga's official page is Governor Gladys Wanga. It is verified by Meta and has 399,000 followers. There are no loan offers on her Facebook page.
The account in question is fake and its offers are a scam.
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