IN SHORT: Imposters often use the name of legitimate institutions to trick users into sending them money. This Facebook account pretending to give loans in the name of Kenyan financial institution Mwananchi Credit Limited is run by an imposter and should be avoided.
The Facebook account Mwananchi Okoa Loans is offering Kenyans on Facebook instant loans of up to KSh100,000 for business, settling personal bills and emergencies.
The account’s profile picture and cover photo features the logo of Mwananchi Credit Limited, a genuine Kenyan financial institution.
In bid to entice users, the account’s posts include images of bundles of cash, as well as screenshots of messages from users who have supposedly received loans.
The loan offers have been posted on different Facebook groups with thousands of members here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But is the Facebook account run by Mwananchi Credit? We checked.
Clues of scam
The poor punctuation in the messages posted by the account is the first sign it’s fake. Ads from genuine institutions are usually well-written without grammatical errors.
A trustworthy financial institution would link to a website or an app from their social media accounts and also list a physical location or an address. But the Facebook account in question hasn’t done any of this.
Africa Check noted that the screenshot used in its posts, supposedly messages from users acknowledging receipt of their loans, are old and have been used before by other imposter accounts. This is a red flag.
The account lists two phone numbers to be used for loan applications. But those numbers can’t be found on Mwananchi Credit Limited’s official website. Previously, the company told us that its official contact number was 0709147000.
We sent a message to the account in question on WhatsApp and were told to pay KSh650 “security fee” for us to access the loans. This is a clear sign of scam.
The account is run by an imposter and its offers should be ignored.
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