CLAIM: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved US$2 billion loan for Zimbabwean businesses
VERDICT: False. The IMF has not announced any such loan to Zimbabwe. A post making that claim appears to be an attempt to harvest personal details from the public.
An article has appeared on the internet claiming that the IMF has approved a US$2 billion interest-free loan to Zimbabwe to address the impact of COVID-19 in the country.
According to the report: “The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved the disbursement of SDR542.8 million (100 percent of quota, about US$2 Billion) to be drawn under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF).”
It has been posted on a fake Facebook page, purporting to be that of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, where the post drew hundreds of comments. Various news websites have also shared the article.
According to the Facebook post: “GREAT NEWS FOR ALL ZIMBABWEAN ENTREPRENEURS AND FARMERS!! The IMF Executive Board has approved a huge fund to be channeled directly to Zimbabwean SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to assist them survive the current hard economic times. Terms of repayment include 0% interest and extended grace periods. I urge all interested entrepreneurs to visit the IMF website through the following link to apply online.”
However, the article is false. It appears to be part of an attempt to harvest personal details, a process called “phishing”. This is when someone poses as a legitimate institution to fool people into providing their personal information, such as emails, telephone numbers or banking details.
How can we tell article is fake?
The Ministry of Finance has confirmed to ZimFact that it as a false. No such facility has been announced.
Such an agreement would be announced formally by the IMF.
Instead, the website link used for the article is a Google Site website. Google Site is a Google app that allows anyone to create an instant web page for free. IMF statements are issued through its official website, IMF.org. There is no such announcement there.
Thirdly, the article features a picture of Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube shaking hands with former IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The picture is not recent. It was first posted on Ncube’s Twitter feed, on March 6, 2019, after the two held talks in Washington. Legarde, in fact, stepped down from the IMF in July, 2019.
A red flag is a form at the bottom of the article asking those who want to access the “IMF loans” to submit personal details. These includes their names, phone numbers, emails, nationality, their line of business, how long they have been in that business, and their annual turnover.
This is not the first such fraudulent post. A similar post appeared earlier in June claiming that USAID was giving out grants to Zimbabwean businesses. As in the latest case, that fake post asked for personal details. The web link of that post showed it was not from USAID.
In a June 3 post on Facebook responding to the post, USAID said: “How can you tell fake from real? Official USAID websites and emails contain .gov, not .zw or .com and we NEVER ask applicants to pay money either by email, sms or phone call. Tell a friend to tell a friend that this is a scam. Share widely!”
CONCLUSION
The article claiming that the IMF has granted a US$2 billion loan for Zimbabwean SMEs is fake. The website given has all the hallmarks of an attempt to get your personal details.
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