Kenya: Beware of Another Facebook Page Impersonating Kenyan Church

17 February 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

IN SHORT: Popular Kenyan preacher Ezekiel Odero and his New Life Prayer church are frequent victims of impersonation online. This Facebook page offering prayers in return for money is yet another example of this.

The Facebook page New life prayer center and church mavueni claims to offer prayers to Facebook users. When they reach out, the page tells them to send money as an "offering" first.

The page uses the photos of Ezekiel Odero, a popular Kenyan preacher who runs the New Life Prayer Centre and Church.

One of its posts, dated 16 February 2023, reads in part: "Umeteseka kwa magonjwa ya cancer, HIV, diabetes, ulcers, kuumwa na mgongo, pralysis, arthritis, shida ya tumbo, leo hii nina habari njema kwako."

It adds: "Mungu atakufungua mara moja mwanangu, iwapo una magonjwa yanayokusumbua, nipigie simu/au uniandikie ujumbe mfupi au watsap kwa 0770986436 nikuombee upokee kufunguliwa kwa jina la Yesu Christo."

This translates from Kiswahili as: "You have suffered from diseases like cancer, HIV, diabetes, ulcers, back pain, paralysis, arthritis, stomach problems. Today I have good news for you."

"God will heal you immediately, my son. If you are ailing, call, write me a text or contact me on WhatsApp on 0770986436. I will pray for your healing in Jesus's name."

Similar posts on the page have attracted hundreds of likes and comments.

But does the page really represent Odero's New Life Prayer Centre and Church? We checked.

Signs the Facebook page is fake

We searched online for the New Life Prayer Centre and Church and found its YouTube channel, New Life TV KENYA.

It has more than 416,000 subscribers. All the preacher's activities are posted on the channel.

The YouTube channel lists the church's phone numbers. The phone number listed in the Facebook posts in question is not among them.

We reached out to the number on WhatsApp and we were told to deposit KSh2,000 first to the number, before prayers could be "given".

Legit Facebook page

The church's YouTube channel includes a link to the website newlifeprayercenterandchurch.org.

The website, in turn, links to the church's official Facebook page, "Newlife TV KENYA", which has more than 232,000 followers. The page transparency section shows it was created on 5 December 2020.

The fake page was created on 28 December 2022. It has only 40,000 followers.

It is unlikely that the preacher would run two Facebook pages at the same time, with different contact details.

This is just one of the many Facebook pages and accounts Africa Check has exposed impersonating Odero and his church.

In 2023 alone, Africa Check has at time of writing exposed four other Facebook accounts that use Odero's name and photos to scam people out of money.

To help protect yourself against online fraudsters, see Africa Check's guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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