IN SHORT: This Facebook page poses as an asset finance company and targets motorbike taxi operators with attractive offers on motorbikes. But the page is fake and the offers are scams.
The Facebook page M-kopa Loan Motorbikes Kenya offers new motorbikes to those looking to become motorbike taxi operators.
The page asks interested users to make a “down payment” of as little as KSh9,500 (about US$72.9) and a daily payment of KSh220 (about $1.7).
Its adverts claim that the motorbikes “have low fuel consumption, reduced vibration, improved engine speed, and more climbing power”.
To make it look legit, the page uses photos of people, presumably employees and customers of M-Kopa, an asset finance company operating in Kenya and four other African countries. The company’s logo is clearly visible in some of its ads.
It also provides a phone number and directs users to use it for inquiries and purchases.
The motorbike taxi industry provides an income for many young people in Kenya, with about three million riders. But is the page and its offers legit? We checked.
Suspicious identity
The “page transparency” section of the page in question showed that it was created on 4 August 2023. We found this strange since M-Kopa was founded in 2010.
Africa Check searched online and found the company’s official website, m-kopa.com. The website has provided links to the company’s social media accounts. Its official Facebook page, M-KOPA Kenya, was created on 4 May 2012 and has not posted any such offers.
While the suspicious page claims to belong to M-Kopa, it does not link to the company's official website. Instead, it links to a website with unrelated content. This means users have no access to information about the nature of the page’s business, which is a red flag.
The page has republished its adverts many times in Facebook groups with thousands of members. This is a common trend with fake pages running bogus adverts and desperate for attention. Genuine businesses rely on paid advertising and compelling promotional content to grow.
The phone number provided by the page in question is also not among those listed on the M-Kopa website.
The suspicious page is impersonating M-Kopa and its offers are scams.
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