In Kenya today, social media is our new public square. Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp groups carry everything from family updates and breaking news to job leads and business deals. But beneath the filters and hashtags, a darker economy is thriving one built on deception, stolen identities and broken trust.
Scammers no longer lurk only in anonymous emails. They now wear familiar faces: cloned profiles of pastors, CEOs, influencers, even relatives, complete with stolen photos and recycled “success stories.” One day it is a fake Facebook page promising instant loans after a “small activation fee”; the next, a TikTok livestream pushing crypto “investments” that vanish once the money hits a mobile wallet. WhatsApp broadcast lists circulate fake fundraising appeals, using real tragedy to harvest cash and contacts.
The financial hit is painful, but the social price is worse. Every con chips away at something fragile: our willingness to trust one another online. When an aunt loses her chama savings to a bogus Instagram boutique, the family does not just lose money; it loses confidence in digital business. When a youth group is duped by a forged scholarship advert on X, their hope curdles into cynicism. Over time, whole communities begin to treat every genuine opportunity online jobs, e-commerce, crowdfunding with suspicion.
Scams also distort public conversation. Fake giveaways and bot-driven campaigns drown out real voices, pushing misinformation and manufactured outrage into our timelines. The result is a noisy, polluted information environment where it becomes harder to separate genuine civic action from coordinated manipulation.
Yet, this story does not have to end in fear. Across Kenya, a quiet counter movement is rising. Fact-checkers, digital rights groups and cybercrime units are naming and exposing scams, teaching users how to spot recycled images, suspicious URLs and emotional blackmail tactics. Platforms are slowly improving verification badges, reporting tools and security prompts but these tools only work when users actually use them.
The most powerful defence is not an app; it is a habit. Pause before you click. Verify before you pay. Call before you forward. Ask three simple questions: Do I know this person? Can I confirm this offer offline? Who benefits if I rush? In a landscape where screenshots can be forged and followers can be bought, healthy doubt is an act of self defence, not negativity.
Social media should be a force multiplier for Kenyan creativity, enterprise and solidarity not a hunting ground for digital predators. If each of us treats our timelines like our neighbourhoods worth cleaning up, worth protecting then the same networks that scammers exploit can become the strongest shield against them.
