- Published on September 24, 2024 at 05:25
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
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Ethiopians celebrated their New Year on September 11, 2024. A post published on Facebook on the eve of the holiday featuring an image of Ethiopia’s prime minister claims to give away a cash prize to low-income households and the elderly. Hundreds hoping to receive the money have shared their banking info in the comments section. However, AFP Fact Check found this is to be a scam: the registration link leads to an error page on a fishy website, and neither the prime minister nor his office announced any such giveaway.
The post, published on Facebook on September 10, 2024, features a photo of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“Free gift… Receive 12,000 Ethiopian Birr for free,” reads the text in Amharic overlaid on the photo. The sum amounts to around $100.
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Screenshot of the false post, taken on September 19, 2024
“Register immediately to receive the gift. It is offered for the low-income section of society and the elderly,” the caption reads.
The text overylay on the image asks users to click on the link in the caption to receive the gift.
Most of the more than 400 Facebook users who commented on the post submitted their bank account information.
Ethiopian New Year is usually celebrated in September based on the Ethiopian calendar, which is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar (archived here).
However, the link in the caption does not lead to the purported gift.
Scam post
The Facebook page behind the alleged cash gift has the same name as the amount promised in the giveaway: “12,000”.
A review of the transparency section of the Facebook page showed it was created two days before the givaway post was published.
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Screenshot of the transparency section of the page, taken on September 20, 2024
Moreover, the supposed registration link leads to an error page.
The URL’s domain shows the web page called “1200000000.my.canva.site” was created using graphic design site Canva’s free website builder.
The Facebook post lured many users who submitted their bank account details in the comments, hoping to receive money.
“I am proud of you as a leader. Please transfer the gift to this account for me,” commented one of the users who shared his bank account details, referring to the country’s prime minister.
“Great gift for the new year. Please transfer the money to this account,” commented another.
It is unclear why the users shared their bank details, as this is not mentioned in the post’s text. However, the post’s edit history shows that it originally included an additional attachment, which is no longer available. This attachment could potentially have included further instructions.
Scammers usually use bank details to steal money from customers’ accounts. The account numbers shared under the post mostly belong to the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, a state-affiliated bank that has repeatedly warned its customers against such scams (archived here).
A review of the prime minister’s and his office’s official social media accounts did not reveal any announcements about cash giveaways.