Kenya is offering a COVID-19 mobile data grant to citizens.
According to the post, all Kenyans over the age of 13 are eligible for the grant. They are required to register with one network operator by filling a form with their personal details., However, the terms and conditions of the grant reveal that each beneficiary needs to refer a friend via WhatsApp to the Atiku Care Foundation, a non-profit linked to former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and support his political ambitions in the next general election., The Nigerian politician has donated to his country’s Relief Fund to address COVID-19, which was made through his Priam Group and it did not include internet data grants., Additionally, the domain name of the site offering the grant is ‘c0vid19datagrant.online’. WHOIS information shows that it was created on April 10, 2020 and registered in Panama, indicating that it could be a phishing link out to steal personal data., Further, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) flagged the data grant as a fraud and warned members of the public not to fall prey to such phishing links used by criminals to steal personal information and money., “Such links have largely been found to be infected with malware that triggers mining of personal information, passwords, photos, contacts among other valuables that are subsequently used to extort, for cyberbullying, stealing of finances among other ills,” DCI wrote on Twitter., PesaCheck has looked into the claim that the Kenyan government is offering a 200GB internet data grant and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by Fact-Checker Simon Muli and edited by Enock Nyariki., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
HOAX: Kenya is not offering a COVID-19 mobile data grant to citizens