IN SHORT: There is an upsurge of Facebook pages offering fake loans in Kenya. This page impersonating the Inua Jamii programme should be ignored.
The Facebook page INUA JAMII SOFT LOANS is offering instant loans to Kenyans on Facebook.
The page uses the name of Inua Jamii, the Kenyan government programme that gives cash grants to poor and vulnerable people, to run its activities. Inua jamii is Kiswahili for “uplift the community”.
The page’s profile picture features a photo of Kenyan first lady Rachel Ruto.
One of its posts, dated 21 September 2023, reads: “INSTANT LOANS SMS the word #Loan to and get instant loan from INUA JAMII LOANS starting from ksh.10000/ to ksh.500,000/ at 6% interest rate payable in 30 months plus a grace period of 3 months.”
The page claims that loans are available for business and personal use, school fees and emergencies.
Some of the page’s posts that were shared on Facebook groups on different dates are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But is the Facebook page and its loan offers legit? We checked.
Inua Jamii programme does not issue loans
The page transparency section of this Facebook page shows it was created on 25 May 2022 under the name “Wakali”. The name – translated from Swahili as “the bad ones” – appears unconnected to any financial services.
It changed its name to “LIPA MDOGO MDOGO” on 12 May 2023, which means “pay in instalments” in Kiswahili. Eight days later it changed again to its current name. The frequent name changes might be an attempt to fool users about its true intentions.
The official Facebook page for the Inua Jamii programme was created in June 2017 and no loan offers have been posted on the page. In fact, it has clarified that the Inua Jamii programme does not issue loans but rather gives out cash grants to those considered poor and vulnerable.
This page is fake and its offers are a scam.
Africa Check has also flagged other pages fraudulently operating under the name here, here, here and here. Offers from any of these imposter pages should be ignored.
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