IN SHORT: A foundation named after a popular content creator is allegedly offering up to US$300 to interested Facebook users. But the creator says it is all a scam.
A post on Facebook claims that “Thee Pluto Foundation” is giving away money to Kenyans through a “legit promotion”.
The so-called foundation is named after popular Kenyan content creator Robert Ndegwa, commonly known as Thee Pluto.
The post reads: “Thanks Thee Pluto foundation for bringing up with this legit promotion Inbox if interested.Thank you.”
The text is accompanied by a screenshot of what appears to be an M-Pesa message, saying the user has received KSh45,000 (about US$300 at the time of publication) from the foundation.
M-Pesa is a widely used mobile money service run by Kenya’s largest telecoms company, Safaricom.
Several users responded, asking to be linked to the promotion.
Similar posts can be found here and here. They also claim to have received money from this foundation.
But is this promotion legitimate? We checked.
The non-existent foundation
On 30 July 2023, Thee Pluto posted similar screenshots on his official Facebook page and flagged them as fake. They also appear to show M-Pesa messages from people who received money from the foundation.
"BEWARE OF SCAMS!!! I HAVE NOTHING LIKE THEE PLUTO FOUNDATION," he told his nearly 1 million followers.
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