Kenya: No, Scam Facebook Account Offering Promotions Not Run By Kenyan Actor Blessing Lung'aho

5 May 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

IN SHORT: A Facebook account using the name and photos of Kenyan actor Blessing Lung'aho promises easy cash prizes. But it's another scam.

The Facebook account Blessings Madiba Citizen has been running promotions on a Facebook group in Kenya with over 135,000 members.

The account uses the name and photos of Kenyan actor Blessing Lung'aho. Lung'aho played the characters Mejja in Kenya's TV drama series Maria and Madiba in another Kenyan drama series, Zora. The shows aired on Citizen TV.

The account posts simple queries and tasks and asks users to respond to win cash.

The topics in the posts are wide ranging. Some ask users to name their favourite journalists and musicians to win KSh35,000. In others, it asks users to wish the actor a happy birthday.

It then compliments those who comment and asks them to get in touch on WhatsApp.

Posts have been published by the account here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

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

Fake Facebook account

Facebook allows public figures such as Lung'aho to verify their pages on the platform. These pages then have a "blue tick" verification badge.

The official Facebook page for Lung'aho is verified and has over 540,000 followers. No such offers exist on the page. It is unlikely that the actor would operate two Facebook accounts and dedicate the unverified one to promotions.

The suspect account asks users to engage privately over WhatsApp through a cellphone number provided for the promotions.

Africa Check WhatsApped the cellphone number to ask about the promotions and were told to deposit a "processing fee" of KSh250 first. We were told that the fee was a must. This is a clear indication that this Facebook page is just another scam.

The account in the actor's name and its promotions are fake.

To protect yourself against scams, see 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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