IN SHORT: Three Facebook accounts are running almost identical promotions using the name and photos of Kenyan journalist Lulu Hassan. Steer clear of them as they are on a scamming spree.
Three Facebook accounts Lulu Hassan Gifts, Lulu Hassan Citizentvgift and Lulu Hassan Gifts are promising Facebook users thousands of Kenyan shillings to take part in what they call “promotions”.
The accounts use photos of Lulu Hassan, a prominent news anchor on Kenya’s Citizen TV, as their profile pictures. They have posted multiple times to Facebook groups with thousands of members.
They post simple queries and ask users to respond for a chance to win thousands of Kenyan shillings. The questions are wide-ranging but simple, for example asking users for names starting or ending with certain letters of the alphabet.
The accounts have posted on different dates here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But are these Facebook accounts and their offers legit? We checked.
Signs of fake Facebook accounts
Each of the Facebook accounts in question are relatively new and have little activity on their timelines. But, suspiciously, they have posted promotions on multiple Facebook groups. This is usually a sign of a scam, since it indicates that these accounts are created for the sole purpose of running bogus promotions across Facebook groups.
The promotions on the suspicious accounts do not appear on Hassan’s official Facebook page, which has over 1.4 million followers. We also checked her verified Instagram account, which has over 1.5 million followers, and could not find the promotions.
We noted that each of the accounts invite users to engage privately on WhatsApp. This is another common trick used by scammers in Kenya. Once users reach out hoping to be awarded, they are asked to pay an “unlocking” or “registration” fee. Ultimately, there is no reward and scammers get away with the user’s money.
We have debunked similar scams here, here, here and here.
To help protect yourself against online fraudsters, read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.
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