Tag Archive for: #Hoax

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Fact Check: No, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is offering grants to agribusiness

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The page advertising for the grants is a scam and a fraudulent Facebook account posing as the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of South Sudan.

Writer: Beatrice Amude Paulino

A Facebook page impersonating the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Josephine Joseph Lagu, with the claim that her ministry is offering grants to agribusiness is fake and fraudulent.

The page transparency shows that it was created on August 12th, 2024 and on the same date, it posted the claim about the grant opportunities to agribusiness entities.

“The Ministry will channel investments towards Agriculture, providing financial support in the form of grants to Agribusinesses, Business Development Companies, Groups and Cooperatives that can benefit small farmers. Interested parties are advised to apply,” reads part of the fake Facebook post while directing prospective applicants to apply through a Google link in the post.

The screenshot of the fake page scam

It appears that those who might have fallen victim to the scam received a grant fund approval letter without an official stamp while bearing the name of Ms. Josephine Joseph Lagu, as the Chairlady of the grant committee. The document is being widely forwarded or shared in WhatsApp groups.

Screenshot of the fake grant fund approval letter

However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) debunked the claim as a scam and fraudulent in a statement issued on its Facebook page on August 15th, 2024.

“We want to alert you to a recent scam involving a fraudulent Facebook account posing as the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of South Sudan. Please be aware that this account is not affiliated with the official Ministry. To ensure you are receiving accurate and reliable information, always verify that you are interacting with our legitimate account, which is managed directly by our team. Our official page will never ask for personal information or money via direct messages,” reads a Facebook post statement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Screenshot of the statement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

Conclusion:

The Facebook post claiming to be from the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Josephine Joseph Lagu, is fake and fraudulent. 

Neither the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security nor the Minister have announced any grants to finance the agribusiness sector in South Sudan.

The page is not affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry, but it is being used to defraud and scam people.

To ensure accuracy and transparency, we at 211 Check welcome corrections from our readers. If you spot an error in this article, please request a correction using this form. Our team will review your request and make the necessary corrections immediately, if any.

It’s vital to fight misinformation and disinformation in the media by avoiding fake news. Don’t share content you’re uncertain about. False information can harm and mislead people, risking their lives—Fact-check before sharing.  For more details, visit https://211check.org/, or message us on WhatsApp at +211 921 350 435. #FactsMatter.

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Fact-check: No, MTN South Sudan is not recruiting job applicants through the website portal as claimed.

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A WhatsApp message with a claim that MTN South Sudan is recruiting SIM registration and call centre agents through the website portal is fake.

MTN South Sudan advertised on its official Facebook page on August 9th, 2024, for the recruitment of SIM registration and call centre agents. However, applicants are required to apply through the official email address: [email protected], not through an online website portal claimed in the WhatsApp groups.

Writter: Makur Majeng

A message circulating on WhatsApp groups claiming that MTN South Sudan is looking for SIM registration and call centre agents is a hoax.

“Are you a fresh graduate with excellent communication skills? We’re looking for friendly and customer-focused individuals to join our team as SIM Registration and Call Center Agents! Application is free and available for any interested individual.

Check Here To Apply,” reads the WhatsApp message.

The screenshot of the WhatsApp message

The screenshot of the fake web page interface

When an online user clicks on the link provided in the WhatsApp message, it directs to a form to enter personal information like name, gender, qualification (degree/diploma), phone number, and email address. 

The screenshot of where it asks the user to enter their phone number

After submission of the form, a congratulatory message appears while confirming receipt of the application, with the suggestion that only a few steps remain for approval. Besides, an instruction to proceed directs a prospective applicant to share the portal with 5 groups or 15 friends on WhatsApp before submitting the application.

After doing the tasks, it redirects you to a different website not related to the recruitment here and here.

The screenshot of the web pages

Claim Verification:

Online research on social media platforms found that MTN South Sudan posted a job advertisement on its verified Facebook page on August 9th, 2024 for the position of “SIM Registration and Call Center Agents” with the requirements of a degree or diploma in any relevant field. 

However, applicants can apply through the email address “[email protected],” not through the online website portal as claimed.

“We are hiring. Are you a fresh graduate with excellent communication skills? We’re looking for friendly and customer-focused individuals to join our team as SIM Registration & Call Center Agents!

QUALIFICATION: – Degree / Diploma in any relevant field. Send applications to: [email protected],” reads the MTN South Sudan Facebook post

The screenshot of the MTN South Sudan verified Facebook page post. 

VirusTotal identified the claim on the online website portal as phishing. This confirms that the website intends to deceive and collect personal information from users under impersonation and false pretence.

MTN South Sudan is one of the telecommunication mobile network operators in South Sudan.

Conclusion:

MTN South Sudan advertised for the vacancy of SIM registration and call center agents on August 9th, 2024 and prospective applicants are required to apply through the email address [email protected], not through the website portal link as claimed in the WhatsApp message being shared widely in groups. 

A WhatsApp message with a claim that MTN South Sudan is recruiting SIM registration and call centre agents through the website portal is fake and misleading.

To ensure accuracy and transparency, we at 211 Check welcome corrections from our readers. If you spot an error in this article, please request a correction using this form. Our team will review your request and make the necessary corrections immediately, if any.

Fighting misinformation and disinformation in the media is crucial to avoiding fake news. Don’t share content you’re uncertain about. False information can harm and mislead people, risking their lives—Fact-check before sharing. For more details, visit https://211check.org/ or message us on WhatsApp at +211 917 298 255. #FactsMatter.

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Fact-check: Did the Ministry of General Education announce free online courses? 

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No, it is a hoax; neither the South Sudan Ministry of General Education nor its affiliates have announced this.

Writer: Makur Majeng

A sponsored Facebook post claiming to offer free online courses with approval from the Ministry of Education is a hoax. The page called Knowledge Language Information claimed that registration for August 2024 has been opened for 1,000 online courses, including free laptops and job referrals. 

The page shared graphics bearing the map of South Sudan and the link to apply for the online courses.

“From July 2024, you can study 10 online courses approved by the South Sudan Ministry of Education for free. Includes free learning materials. 1,000 free online courses. Laptops provided for free. And job referral. Apply Now,” the sponsored Facebook post reads.

The screenshot of the Facebook post.

Upon clicking the link provided in the Facebook post, it sends a user to a webpage to select the course of his or her choice. 

A screenshot of the webpage bearing the list of courses.

If a user selects any of the courses provided on the web interface, it will prompt him or her to tap on the “Visit Website” button. However, if the green button is clicked, it will automatically redirect to a different website. 

The screenshot of its webpage

The page transparency shows that it was created on August 24, 2023

Claim Verification: 

211 Check reached out to the Ministry of General Education and Instruction for comment via email, and it said there is no announcement related to the free course.

“We don’t have any affiliation with [the] online Facebook page [Knowledge Language Information], and please stay away from such claims. The Ministry of General Education hasn’t announced anything related to free course (s) with the benefit of job referral after completion, among other things,” reads a response from the Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

In addition to that, the Ministry of General Education’s E-learning platform has no active free online courses going on.

Earlier, a similar claim about the University of Juba offering free courses was debunked as false in January this year.

A WHOIS domain search for the claimed domain shows that the website was registered on February 6, 2024, and will expire on February 6, 2025, and it appears that the domain address is not legitimate.

A screenshot of the WHOIS domain for the claim.

Conclusion:

211 Check has found out that the Facebook post claiming that the South Sudan Ministry of Education is offering free online courses is a hoax and misleading. 

The Facebook page is not affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and it is designed to scam individuals.

To ensure accuracy and transparency, we at 211 Check welcome corrections from our readers. If you spot an error in this article, please request a correction using this form. Our team will review your request and make the necessary corrections immediately, if any.

It’s vital to fight misinformation and disinformation in the media by avoiding fake news. Don’t share content you’re uncertain about. False information can harm and mislead people, risking their lives—Fact-check before sharing. For more details, visit https://211check.org/ or message us on WhatsApp at +211 921 350 435. #FactsMatter

Central Bank of South Sudan Hoax211 Check

Fact-Check: Is the Bank of South Sudan offering rewards to its Website Visitors?

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“This scam uses Bank of South Sudan’s brand names and logo in order to make the prize look legitimate. They claim that the BoSS offers prizes worth 300 thousand United States Dollars. This is not true, the BoSS does not offer prizes, awards, or funds,” reads a statement shared by the Bank of South Sudan through its Facebook Page.

By Emmanuel Bida Thomas

An imposter website in the name of the Bank of South Sudan claims that it is offering checks through “the bank’s rewards center” to its website visitors.

In one of the screenshots obtained by 211 Check and SafetyComm South Sudan, the website said a visitor had won a Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018).

But, is the Bank of South Sudan currently giving out prizes to its website visitors? Find out:

Screenshot of Imposter Website Page claiming that a visitor had won a Samsung Galaxy

Findings:

211 Check examination of the unrelated website: http://altajari-prizes.xyz/ [do not click on the link] reveals that the domain name was registered only 16 days ago as of Wednesday, 18/08/2021. A domain created less than 3 months ago is considered new and thus potentially suspicious. The site also has an unknown trustworthiness score on the Web of Trust.

The Bank of South Sudan also released a statement on Wednesday, 18/08/2021 afternoon that it was warning the public “about fraudulent activities being perpetrated in its name on social media through a fraud scheme”

“This scam uses Bank of South Sudan’s brand names and logo in order to make the prize look legitimate. They claim that the BoSS offers prizes worth 300 thousand United States Dollars. This is not true, the BoSS does not offer prizes, awards, or funds,” reads a statement shared by the Bank of South Sudan through its Facebook Page.

You should also note that the official website for the Central Bank of South Sudan is hosted at: https://www.boss.gov.ss/

Conclusion:

Do not provide your account details or personal identification information to a scammer. Do not click suspicious links on the internet.

To know more about our fact-checking process, visit:  https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp Message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, our team will immediately fact-check it and send you a feedback

National Youth Empowerment Fund Hoax211 Check

Fact-Check: Is the Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme Legitimate?

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The Federal Republic of Nigeria has an initiative named Presidential Youth Entrepreneurship Support (P-YES) and the application dates for 2021 have not yet been announced. Their official site is hosted at www.p-yes.gov.ng 

By: Oriba Douglas 

A widely shared WhatsApp message claims that the National Youth Empowerment Fund, a federal government agency in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is giving out ₦150,000 – ₦550,000 grants to citizens under the age of 13-65 years from 2021 – 2024 (it fails to specify which country). It calls for this to be achieved through interested persons applying and registering through their given website hosted at https://youth-empowerments.ethut.co 

Message Extract in full:

The message reads;

“*National Youth Empowerment Fund Application Form 2021 Is Out*

National Youth Empowerment Funding Application Form 2021 online for registration exercise which is the quickest to apply for is now out for all bonafide citizens only who needs helping hands in their various Business and Education

*The National Youth Empowerment Funds is vision into giving out ₦150,000 – ₦550,000 grant to every Citizen under the age 13-65 years from 2021-2024*.

Age 13-25 (150,000-300,000)

Age 25-65(400,000-700,000)

*October Payments has began for all applicants, Register To be Part of the Beneficiaries

*Strictly for Students and Business owners*

Check Eligibility and Apply here

WhatsApp Message of the Scam

Investigation:

211 Check followed the link attached to the WhatsApp message. It leads to a site on the internet with the URL https://youth-empowerments.ethut.co. The page presents the visitor with a bold header relaying the message Presidential Youth Empowerment Fund and is flaunted on the left by a logo that is used by the official P-YES, on the right a coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and below are the Flags of Uganda, Ghana, Cameroun, Namibia plus the Coat of arms of the Republic of Kenya. 

The page further seeks to whey the visitors through a site marquee that stresses “The Presidential Youth Empowerment Funds for all citizens…”

A timer is also included on the website to state till when the offer will remain available.

The page then flows on to a simple HTML form.

The form starts off with some brief statements about the scheme. The form has spaces for full name, Country, Home Address, Phone Number, and Email Address before being presented with a button labelled “proceed” that once clicked ushers page 2 of the form presents Congratulatory messages stating that application has been received and to acquire the funds immediately one is asked to answer three questions that are on a carousel. Once all three questions are answered. A new page loads bearing messages like “after receiving and checking your application, you have been approved to receive the Presidential Youth Empowerment Funds for Free.

A precondition to receive the funds is then added stating that the money will be available immediately a button labelled “invite friends/groups” is clicked so as to share a replica of the same message at the very base of this fact check report to other WhatsApp users and groups. The precondition further dictates that the sharing be done till a blue bar on the site is full.

Analysis and Findings:

Red Flag 1: The first website’s first landing page displays flags and coats of arm of different African Countries in a manner lacking any officiality.

Red Flag 2: Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme is not registered as a valid  youth empowerment scheme anywhere in Africa but on the contrary Nigeria recently launched Presidential Youth Entrepreneurship Support (P-YES) whose official logo exists on the fake site’s landing page.

Red Flag 3: The currency to be given out is Nigerian Naira, unsuitable for transactions among countries with different currencies and economies

Red Flag 4: The site borrows heavily the names, flags and logos from Official Nigerian establishments.

Red Flag 5: Without filling the form, #211Check was able to go to page 2 where the following questions were asked:

1. What is your employment Status?

2. What is your Marital status?

3. Choose age range?”

Red Flag 6: A false comments section accompanying page 2 bearing forged Facebook comments with alleged beneficiaries writing good reviews about the grant scheme. 

Red Flag 7: After answering the 3 questions on page 2, you are immediately notified that your application was successful.

Red Flag 8: You are required to mass resend a version of the WhatsApp message that likely brought you to the site in the first place, in order to receive your cash grant.

Analysis:

Analysing the Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme website using the tool hosted at https://whois.domaintools.com showed that the website was registered and hosted on 13th July 2021

The domain was registered in the US and the current IP location is New Jersey, US.

The IP history shows that within the last 97 days the IP address has been changed four times.

A look at the source code to the website indicates the form on the site has no capabilities to submit any data entered into it and thus just there to create an environment that mimics the real thing. Developer tools on Microsoft Edge were used to analyse this.

Conclusion:

False, the website is fraudulent and its whole purpose is spam, mostly spamming WhatsApp platforms. 

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has an initiative named Presidential Youth Entrepreneurship Support (P-YES) and the application dates for 2021 have not yet been announced. Their official site is hosted at www.p-yes.gov.ng 

SCAM ALERT Fake UNICEF South Sudan Job Offers

SCAM ALERT: These UNICEF South Sudan Career Opportunities are Fake

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The UNICEF South Sudan Communications Officer has told 211 Check that the recruitment for vacant positions allegedly by the organisation is fake, and no one should recognize it because they don’t receive job applications via email.

By Emmanuel Bida Thomas

A job posting purportedly from UNICEF South Sudan has been making the rounds on social media, advertising over 8,000 jobs in a variety of departments ranging from interns to administrators in all ten states of South Sudan.

Interested Applicants are asked to send their cover letter, CV, and National ID to an unrelated Web email, but the job advertisement bears all of the hallmarks of a scam, as have many others exposed by 211 Check.

Image of the Fake Job Advertisement

The job listings are on an image rather than the official website  of UNICEF South Sudan that is supposedly hiring. Such documents are quick and easy to set up and look official. 

The email is designed to look as though it is an official UNICEF South Sudan email, but is a free Gmail email – @gmail.com. Official UNICEF email ends in – unicef.org. 

When 211 Check contacted the UNICEF South Sudan communications office, its Communication Officer, Richard Ruati said that the recruitment for vacant positions allegedly by UNICEF South Sudan is fake, and no one should recognize it because the organisation doesn’t receive job applications via email.

“We have noticed the unfortunate job adverts purported in the name of UNICEF. Please note that these adverts, emails and slogans are fake, and no one should recognize them. UNICEF releases job adverts only on https://jobs.unicef.org/en-us/, and we don’t receive job adverts through emails,” Richard Ruati wrote in an email reply to 211 Check.

When you see a job advertised on Social Media, avoid providing personal information such as your National ID or Phone Number through unofficial emails or websites, and ensure that the link provided (if any) takes you to the organization’s official website.

To avoid becoming a victim of a job scam, use the SCAM CHECK or read what the UN Careers has to say about job SCAMS.

Conclusion:

211 Check has looked into jobs advertised in the name of UNICEF South Sudan — and finds them to be a SCAM

To know more about our fact-checking process, visit:  https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp Message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, our team will immediately fact-check it and send you a feedback.