Claim
On 31 October 2022, a Facebook page going by the name “Gezile Fans Page” published a post claiming that police have arrested over 2,500 people for failing to pay back loans they got from Zamcash. The post contained a laughing emoji. The page published a follow up post on 02 November 2022, claiming it had “CONFIRMED ZAMCASH has arrested 15 people in Livingstone… 6 guys and 9 ladies”.
Rating Justification
iVerify Zambia has determined as false the claim that police have arrested over 2,500 people for failing to pay back loans they got from Zamcash, an online lending platform that provides salary advance loans in Zambia. iVerify has furtehr established that there is no association between “Gezile fans page” and the Facebook page for Gezile, a socialite with a Facebook following of more than 434,000.
In a phone interview, prominent social media influencer Gezile distanced herself and her page from the article, and indicated that she has nothing to do with the “Gezile fans page”. To prove that she had nothing to do with the Zamcash article circulating on social media, Ms. Gezile shared a link to her legitimate Facebook page with iVerify Zambia. She also went on to publish a post on her page with screenshots of the two posts about Zamcash, saying: “This person is using my name to send out wrong information please stop misleading people this is not my page”.
Zambia Police spokesperson Mr. Rae Hamoonga also confirmed to iVerify that the claims were “fake” and it had “no credence”, as the post did not have basic elements of a news story.
And BIU Capital Limited, the entity behind the Zamcash initiative also refuted the story. In response to a query by iVerify on the matter, BIU Capital Limited’s Head of Risk & Compliance, Mr. Jack Chinyama dismissed the article as false. “Kindly be formally advised that the reports circulating on social media that police have arrested 2000 people or otherwise, who are owing Zamcash monies are untrue,” said Mr Chinyama. “We have followed the recent social media frenzy about Zamcash and be advised that such claims of arrests or any related claims are false,” Mr Chinyama added. According to Mr Chinyama, Zamcash is a trade mark for BIU Company Limited.
The posting on the Gezile fans page comes at a time when there is a proliferation in the impersonation and cloning of social media accounts of prominent individuals by the purveyors of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. If you come across any such suspicious content, do not hesitate to alert iVerify using our tipline +260779929274, on this page, or on our Facebook page.
False
