Is Margaret Kenyatta, wife of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, offering loans on Facebook?
Of course not.
But the Facebook page “Margaret Kenyatta Easyloan” says it can provide “unsecured loans” of KSh10,000 to KSh250,000 with an interest rate of 7% a year.
The page’s profile photo is of Kenyatta, and its about section reads “Works at State House Kenya” – although there is “No relationship info to show”.
A recent post on the page reads: “APPROVED NOW!!!Get Unsecured EASY PAY LOAN of 10k_250k with interest rate of 7%pa.PROCEDURE;1Pay ksh399 to 0115137452(Mrs Maureen)secretary,2sms loan amount,3id no,4county and wait for only 7mins your loan to be processed now.”
The post includes screenshots of mobile money messages that appear to be evidence that people have received loans from the page, and from Inua Jamii, the Kenyan government’s social assistance programme.
To apply for the loans, people are told to pay KSh399 via mobile money to a “Mrs Maureen”.
The page features several photos of Kenyatta, and of bundles of cash.
Africa Check has exposed similar fake Facebook pages that use the first lady’s name and photos to scam people. Here’s why “Margaret Kenyatta Easyloan” is just another scam.
Signs of a scam
The page does not carry Facebook’s blue tick verification badge, used to show that a page has been confirmed to belong to a public figure.
Margaret Kenyatta’s official page has been verified. And it doesn’t mention any kind of “easy loan”.
The request for a KSh399 application fee is a major sign that the page is a scam. Legitimate institutions don’t ask for an upfront fee when you apply for a loan. Instead, all fees are deducted when the loan is issued.
Also, the posts on “Margaret Kenyatta Easyloan” are badly written and have grammatical errors. Such poor language would be unlikely on a first lady’s Facebook page.
Kenyatta’s verified page features posts of her many official engagements. None of these appear on “Margaret Kenyatta Easyloan”. And although Kenyatta became first lady in 2013, the first post on the page is dated 8 May 2021.
Finally, Inua Jamii is run by various Kenyan government ministries, but not the first lady or the president. Inua Jamii has previously warned about fake Facebook pages that falsely claimed to offer loans through their programme
“Margaret Kenyatta Easyloans” is a scam.
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