• The advert claimed the move was part of Total’s Corporate Social Responsibility to support Kenyans during the current economic and health crisis.
• Exact messages has been used for other gasses like Progas.
The sponsored content running on social media claiming Total Kenya is giving out free gas cylinders is fake.
The advert has been widely shared on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Free-Gas-Cylinders-From-Total-Kenya-111331987382222/
It claims Total Kenya has come up with a programme to distribute free gas cylinders to at least 200 homesteads in each ward across the country.
The advert claims the move is part of Total’s corporate social responsibility to support Kenyans during the current economic and health crisis.
It says the programme is free and fair and will be run on a first book, first-served basis.
According to the advert, the cylinders come fully filled. However, during refilling, one will be charged the usual retail price, it says.
A link https://freegastotal.info/book-now/ provided gives the terms and conditions.
“We have refined this online booking/application process to make it fast and easy for you to book the gas cylinders. To be eligible for a FREE GAS CYLINDER: You must be a Kenyan citizen aged above 18 years with a valid National ID,” read some of the conditions.
Beneficiaries are expected to have a phone number that can easily be contacted by the 'Total Gas Distribution Team anytime'.
“After booking, you will be notified of the status of your application within 10 minutes. The gas cylinder will be delivered to you within a maximum of 3 days,” read the terms.
Beneficiaries are then asked to pay a delivery fee of Sh450 for the 6kg cylinder and Sh550 for the 13kg cylinder to Dr Ismael Ondiek, head of procurement.
“This fee is however automatically REFUNDED if your booking is rejected. You will NOT PAY any other fee because the cost of the gas cylinder has been catered for by Total gas,” reads the message.
The Star’s fact-check desk looked into this advert and established it to be a hoax.
The link provided in the advert https://freegastotal.info/?fbclid=IwAR1xPV_oWcsJVxUwMFzI5TYtzVAwQpiennLS6kL3B0Y_vA3PbwzTFPU73tE does not belong to Total Kenya.
The company's site is https://www.total.co.ke/promotions/nunua-total-lpg-cylinder.
The fraudsters took advantage of a promotion that Total has been running called Nunua Total LPG+Cylinder at https://www.total.co.ke/promotions/nunua-total-lpg-cylinder to con unsuspecting Kenyans.
When contacted, Total confirmed they had seen the fake advert.
A similar advert has been run with the names of other gas distributors such as Progas https://www.facebook.com/Free-Gas-Cylinders-From-Progas-100879968439651/
This story was produced by The Star in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
