Kenyans, Don't Be Conned By Another Imposter Facebook Page Offering 'Inua Jamii' Loans

31 May 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Kenya is seeing more and more fake Facebook pages claiming to offer Inua Jamii loans. Those behind these pages prey on the poor and these posts should be ignored.

A Facebook page Inua jamii soft loans claims to offer "Inua Jamii" loans to Kenyans.

The page uses the name of Inua Jamii, the Kenyan government programme that gives cash grants to poor and vulnerable people. Inua jamii is Kiswahili for "uplift the community".

Its posts also feature photos of Kenyan first lady Rachel Ruto.

One of its posts, dated 30 May 2023, reads: "Good morning and congratulations kwa Wale ambao walipokea loan. Kama uko online na hukupokea loan Kutoka INUA JAMII LOAN from ksh10,000 to ksh300,000 na uko online Sasa hivi comment na #YES MUM or call my secretary 0792509188or whatsap 0792509188."

The mix of English and Kiswahili translates to: "Good morning and congratulations to those who received their loans. If you are online now and did not receive a loan from Inua Jamii of between KSh10,000 and KSh300,000, comment with the word 'YES MUM' or call my secretary on 0792509188 or WhatsApp 0792509188."

It claims that loans are available for business and personal use, school fees and emergencies.

The page has posted the adverts on dozens of Facebook groups with thousands of members.

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

Fake Facebook page with scam offers

The poor writing in the ads is the first sign that this might just be another scam.

An official government page wouldn't publish posts with random capitalisation, words repeated and odd punctuations.

The mix of English and Kiswahili also makes the adverts informal, uncharacteristic of a page run by the government.

The page transparency section of this Facebook page shows it was created on 6 April 2023. It is unlikely that a government programme that has been running for many years would have a social media account this new.

The official Facebook page for the Inua Jamii programme was created in June 2017 and no loan offers have been posted on the page.

In fact, it has clarified that the Inua Jamii programme does not issue loans but rather gives out cash grants to those considered poor and vulnerable.

The page has cautioned the public against sending any money as processing fee to anyone.

Africa Check reached out to the cell phone number and were told to deposit KSh700 as registration fee. This is a clear sign of a scam.

All signs point to a fake Facebook page with scam offers.

Africa Check has also flagged other pages running the same scam here, here, here and here.

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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