Kenya: Beware of the Facebook Page Impersonating Kenyan Financial Institution

31 January 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

IN SHORT: A Facebook page masquerading as microfinance company Faulu Kenya is offering Kenyans instant loans. But beware - it's not linked to the real institution and may be trying to scam Facebook users.

The Facebook page Faulu claims to offer emergency, personal and business loans to Kenyan users.

The page uses the name and logo of Faulu Kenya, a microfinance institution in Kenya.

In one of its posts, dated 20 January 2023, the page invites users to apply for loans through a website with the URL faululoan.online.

In another post, from 15 November 2022, the Facebook page links to another website with the URL easyloanapp.xyz.

Both of these unprofessional-looking sites require users to indicate their gender, if they have outstanding loans, how they plan to use the loan and their earnings.

But is the Facebook page and its offers legit? We checked.

Imposter Facebook page

Facebook allows public institutions such as Faulu Kenya to verify their pages on the platform. These pages carry a "blue tick" verification badge.

The institution's official Facebook page Faulu Kenya is verified. The page offering loans is not. It is unlikely that the institution would operate two Facebook pages, one dedicated to loans.

The "page transparency" section of the institution's official page shows it was created on 18 July 2011 and has 33,000 followers. The other page was created on 20 September 2022 and has 2,800 followers.

The institution also links to its website on the Facebook page and the Facebook page can also be accessed from the website.

The fake Facebook page lists the two websites linked to in its posts: faululoan.online and easyloanapp.xyz. It is unlikely that a professional institution would operate two different websites.

We contacted Faulu Kenya and asked them if the other page and the website operating in their name is legit.

"Please note the page and website does not belong to us. Our only Facebook page is verified and our official website is www.faulukenya.com," they told us.

To help protect yourself against online scams, 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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