NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 9 — A Facebook Account claiming to offer loans to the poor and elderly under the name of the first lady Rachel Ruto is a scam.
The social media account affiliated itself with the Inua Jamii Program — an initiative by the government to offer social protection to the elderly people, people with severe disabilities, orphans and vulnerable children through cash transfer.
The account sought to hoodwink Kenyans by masquerading as the First Lady has been offering loans from Sh10,000 to Sh200,000 with interested individuals asked to call a certain number belonging to Rachel’s secretary.
On January 8 2022, the account posted: “Have you heard the release of INUA JAMII EASY LOANS,,,,,,Thanks for your response fellow Kenyan,,,due to hard economy, INUA JAMII EASY LOANS are here to help you..many people have benefited already and may be you will benefit too today,,,are you interested???Hello fellow Kenyan,,due to hard economy INUA JAMII EASY LOANS are here to help you solve your life problems,,,, from date 5th January 2023 His excellence William Samoei Ruto released funds for INUA JAMII EASY LOANS.”
The account went further to display example of individuals who have benefit from the ‘program’ though posting their Mpesa message transactions.
Several other fraud accounts were also flagged. They include:
https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086670715391, https://web.facebook.com/susy.anyona, https://web.facebook.com/matthew.munyao.56
The three accounts mushroomed with similar offers under the name of the First Lady Rachel Ruto ever since his husband President William Ruto obtained victory in the August 9th General Election.
The First Lady’s legitimate account goes by the name Mama Rachel Ruto and it has been verified by Facebook.
The account registered in 2013 when her husband became the Deputy President has attracted 950,000 followers.
Further, the Inua Jamii Cash transfer programme which is domiciled under the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Social Protection has never mobilized for applications and distribution of the Social Protection Fund through Facebook accounts.
