Copycat Facebook page running fake Safaricom promotions in Ethiopia

The post was published on June 25, 2023 and has been shared more than 2,900 times since then.

“Please receive awards by following our Facebook page and sharing this post,” reads part of the text written in Afaan Oromoo, a language spoken in Ethiopia.

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on July 6, 2023

“As we start our services in Afaan Oromoo our company Safaricom Oromia is providing different awards to the users who are following our page,” the post adds.

Among the purported gifts on offer are cars, three-wheelers and motorbikes. These and mobile devices are shown in a graphic with the Safaricom logo.

To be eligible for a prize, users are told to follow the page, share the post three times in Facebook groups and, finally, comment with the words “Safaricom Oromia”.

Safaricom, a Kenyan telecom giant, started its operation (archived here) in Ethiopia in September 2022 as the first private mobile network in the country.

AFP reported recently (archived here) that the government has opened a bid for a second private licence and has invited selected companies to apply. Ethio Telecom is a state-owned telecom operator in Ethiopia.

However, the claim that Safaricom Oromia is giving away prizes to its Facebook followers is false.

Impostor page

Safaricom confirmed to AFP Fact Check that the Facebook page called “Safaricom Oromia” does not belong to them.

“This is definitely a fake page,” said Tewedaj Eshetu, Safaricom’s spokeswoman. “We do not award any gifts on social media at the moment.”

The company also confirmed its official Facebook page (archived here) is called “Safaricom Ethiopia”.

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Screenshots of the transparency section of Safaricom’s official Facebook page (top) and the impostor page (bottom), taken on July 6, 2023. 

The impostor page uses the same profile photo as the one on Safaricom’s official page, which was created in July 2021, according to Facebook’s transparency section. The fake page was opened in June 2023.

Safaricom’s page has more than 82,000 followers compared to the copycat account’s 18,000.

Another post on the fake page claims that the winners of the giveaway have been determined and that the company promises to contact them.

AFP Fact Check previously debunked a post from a hoax page falsely claiming Safaricom was giving away money.