Kenya Defence Forces Recruiting 'Bona Fide Citizens' for 2023/24? No, Beware of Scam Website

2 August 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

"Ministry Of Defense has opened the Recruitment Portal for the 2023/2024 online application exercise for all bonafide citizens who wishes to get recruited into the Kenya Defense Force (KDF)," reads a message circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp in Kenya.

The message also says: "The Recruitment has just began for all applicants,Register now. Strictly for 18 and Above. Check Eligibility and Apply here."

The post then links to an amateurish-looking website where interested Facebook users can supposedly apply.

The link has been posted here, here, here and here.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. It is made up of the army, the navy, and the air force.

But is it recruiting for 2023/24 using social media? We checked.

Clearly a scam

When we clicked on the link to the website in the messages, our computer antivirus program warned us that it was potentially malicious. We took the risk - not recommended - and opened the site.

The website's home page is headed: "Ministry Of Defense Recruitment 2023." It asks applicants to fill in their name, gender, email address, phone number and county of origin.

We skipped this stage but, strangely enough, were informed that our application had been received and were allowed to proceed to the next stage.

This required us to "validate" our name. We chose a random name and gave a random level of education.

After completing this stage, we were told that we had qualified to join the KDF. But there was a catch. We had to share the website link "with 15 friends or 5 groups on WhatsApp" by clicking the "SHARE" button. It added that we would receive a confirmation SMS or email within 15 minutes of completing all the steps.

This is a classic example of engagement bait. These are usually social media posts that ask people to interact by liking, commenting or sharing. This increases the post's reach but ultimately offers no reward, and certainly no recruitment to the KDF.

The people behind these scams may also try to steal valuable personal information in what is known as phishing.

We also noted that the website does not lead to the KDF's official website.

Africa Check has exposed similar scams before. To help protect yourself against online fraudsters, 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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