From careers in banking to roles in globe-spanning agencies, social media in Africa is awash with lucrative job offers.
But investigators with AFP Fact Check have found that many of these ads are bogus — they are scams designed to extract cash or steal personal data.
Fresh out of college in Kenya -– a country with more than 1.6 million young unemployed -– Job Mwangi believed he had been shortlisted for field assistant at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a position advertised on LinkedIn.
After passing two online tests, he was asked to pay 2,000 Kenyan shillings (about $17) in “facilitation fees” in order to secure an interview.
“Everything about the job posting seemed legit,” Mwangi told AFP Fact Check in an interview.
“I was asked to pay 1,000 Kenyan shillings ($8.5) for medical and radiology tests… but the tests didn’t happen since I was told that they would be done at the UN offices on interview day.”
A shuttle bus that was supposed to transfer Mwangi and more than 30 other job-seekers to the UN office never showed up.
“We waited for about one hour for the UN bus but it did not arrive, so we decided to take a bus on our own.
“On arrival at the gate, we mentioned that we had been invited for interviews with UNEP and the security officers manning the gate laughed at us, telling us that we’d been scammed.”
Mwangi filed a police report but says he has heard nothing since.
Promise of easy money
This particular hoax is far from uncommon in Africa — indeed, UN agencies regularly warn job seekers about fake ads.
“The United Nations Environment Programme does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, processing, training) or other fees, or request information on applicants’ bank accounts,” UNEP says on its website.
Keyword searches on Facebook reveal dozens of pages featuring bogus vacancies cleverly crafted to lure hopefuls.
Many of the pitches have the same telltale signs: they have short deadlines, promise high salaries and often include a hyperlink to an external online platform requesting personal information.
Scammers also use logos of reputable organisations and companies to lend credibility to spoof emails.
Code for Africa, a data journalism and civic technology initiative, found that in 2020 -– when job losses soared during the Covid-19 pandemic —- some 30 Facebook accounts, groups and pages with over 184,000 followers targeted unsuspecting job hunters in Kenya with sham ads.
Analysts say those behind these scams rely on the desperation of job seekers, who often fail to check whether the postings are genuine.
Many of these applicants send money without hesitation, hoping this will help them in the race to get the position.
“Most online job scams aim to con unsuspecting people into sending money and once this money is sent the scammer disappears,” Kenyan cybersecurity expert Anthony Muiyuro told AFP Fact Check.
LinkedIn said it was investing in ways to tackle the problem.
“Our teams use automated and manual defences to detect and address fake accounts or suspected scams. We also encourage members to report anything that doesn’t seem right so we can investigate,” the company told AFP Fact Check.
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