By Naomi Wanjiku
This Facebook page using the identity of Kenyan comedian Jemutai claims to offer ‘sure’ betting odds.
Verification
The page, whose username is Jemutai Churchill, asks anyone interested in betting to send a WhatsApp message to 0716373292. PesaCheck searched the number on TrueCaller and discovered it is registered under ‘Jemutai Churchill’.
Nonetheless, the page with the claim mimics the comedian, whose real name is Stella Bunei. All the photos shared on the page belong to Jemutai, and it has 49,324 likes and 49,978 followers by the time we published this fact-check. However, the first hint that the page could be a fake account is that it sells football odds in most of its posts.
PesaCheck searched the keyword ‘Jemutai’ on Facebook and discovered another Facebook page with 1.2 million followers. After reviewing the Facebook page, which goes by the username ‘Jemutai Comedian’, we found the page we are fact-checking is among two flagged as fake accounts.
“The person running this two accounts blocked me so I can’t continue reporting the pay [sic] kindly don’t be conned by sijui (I don’t know) ODDS. Whatever is being posted on them I have no control over it, Someone is working overtime to destroy my brand,” Jemutai Comedian cautioned.
To assure her online followers that ‘Jemutai Comedian’ is her official Facebook page, the comedian promised to go live the next day at 11 am. And she did on 13 August 2021, at 9:51 am.
“I was to go live at 11, but according to how my schedule is going I will be busy at 11 so nikaamua kuifanya (I decided to do it) now so that I can go for a shoot at 11. I was to go live at 11 to just verify that this is my real account, sio ile ya (not the one called) Jemutai Churchill. Guys, please don’t be conned uyo si mimi (that is not me), this is my real account,” Jemutai said on Facebook live.
Whereas the fake page, Jemutai Churchill, was created on 2 April 2018, the comedian’s official page, ‘Jemutai Comedian’, was created on 29 October 2015.
The second Facebook page that has been flagged as fake by the comedian is this one with a similar name- Jemutai Churchill. Unlike the other fake page, this one does not advertise any betting odds and only shares Jemutai’s photos. This page has 48,220 likes and 171,388 followers by the time of publication of this fact-check. It was created on 26 December 2018.
Verdict
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook page purporting to belong to Kenyan comedian Jemutai and offering football fans ‘sure’ betting odds and finds it to be FAKE.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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