Kenya: No, Facebook Account in Name of Kenyan First Lady Rachel Ruto Out to Scam Users

22 December 2022
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Grace Gichuhi

IN SHORT: Beware of posts on Facebook claiming to offer loans to Kenya's vulnerable and poor in the name of the country's first lady Rachel Ruto.

A Facebook account called HE Rachael Chebet Loan claims to offer loans to help the poor in Kenya through a taxpayer-funded social protection scheme known as Inua Jamii.

Inua Jamii loosely translates from Kiswahili as "uplift the community". Its goal is to improve the lives of underprivileged and vulnerable Kenyans through regular cash transfers. These include elderly people, people with severe disabilities, orphans and vulnerable children.

On 15 December 2022 the account posted: "Good morning and congratulations kwa Wale ambao walipokea loan Kama uko online na hukupokea loan Kutoka INUA JAMII LOAN from ksh10,000 to ksh150,000 na uko online Sasa hivi comment na #YES MUM or call my secretary 0763557331 or whatsap 0763557331 BUSINESS LOAN PERSONAL LOAN SCHOOL FEES EMERGENCIES."

This translates as: "Good morning and congratulations to those that received loan If you are online and didn't receive a loan from Inua Jamii Loan from KSh10,000 to KSh150,000 comment with #YES MUM or call my secretary 0763557331 or WhatsApp 0763557331 BUSINESS LOAN PERSONAL LOAN SCHOOL FEES EMERGENCIES."

The post included a photo of Rachel Ruto, married to Kenyan president William Ruto. Chebet is Rachel Ruto's maiden name.

The post was also published on several public Facebook groups, with tens of thousands of members combined, including here, here, here, here, here and here.

Other accounts with various variations of the first lady's name have popped up on Facebook with similar loan offers.

Since her husband was elected president in August, Africa Check has debunked several Facebook accounts falsely claiming to offer cash and loans in Rachel Ruto's name. One of these also claimed a false affiliation with Inua Jamii.

These were all scams, so it therefore seems unlikely the first lady has adopted this approach. Are any of these new accounts and offers legit?

No link to Rachel Ruto, offers fraudulent

Kenya's first lady's official Facebook page Mama Rachel Ruto is verified and has more than 950,000 followers. It was created in June 2013.

We found no loan offers here.

The same is the case on her official Twitter account.

By contrast, the HE Rachael Chebet Loan Facebook page is not verified and was created in March 2019. The public Facebook group used to grow the post's reach has only been active since 7 December 2022.

The Inua Jamii programme has previously said through its official Facebook page that it does not offer loans and urged people to ignore the scam offers.

For more help in identifying fraudsters on social media, read our 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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