IN SHORT: Some Facebook posts claim that the United Nations agency Unicef is giving away thousands of Kenyan shillings. But this is not true; don’t be scammed.
A post on Facebook claims that the “UNICEF foundation” is running a cash promotion.
“Kumbe hii promotion ya UNICEF FOUNDATION ni ya ukweli nimefurahia kabsa nilipokea zangu jana na shukuru,” reads the post in Kiswahili on Facebook.
This loosely translates to: “This UNICEF foundation promotion is actually true. I am very happy I received my money yesterday, I am grateful.”
The post directs interested applicants to send the word “help” via WhatsApp.
The text is accompanied by a screenshot of what appears to be an M-Pesa message, saying the user has received KSh85,000 (about US$570) from the foundation.
The United Nations Children’s Fund, or Unicef, works in over 190 countries and territories to protect children's lives and defend their rights.
M-Pesa is a widely used mobile money service run by Kenya’s largest telecoms company, Safaricom.
We found similar posts offering funds here and here.
But is this promotion legitimate? We checked.
Fake cash promotion
The Unicef Kenya website’s contact page does not include the phone number given in the Facebook post. Instead, it only provides the email address [email protected].
We found no evidence of anything like the “UNICEF foundation”. Unicef works with other foundations across the world to fulfil its mandate.
Additionally, an attempt to send money to the number in the post revealed that the sim card was registered in an individual’s name, not to Unicef.
All signs point to this cash promotion being fake and it should be ignored. To further protect yourself from Facebook scams, read our guide on how to spot them.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
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