The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has sent a scam alert to Kenyans over fraudulent individuals extorting bribes from them, promising jobs and promotions.
According to KFS, these fraudsters reach out to unwitting Kenyans, telling them they have been shortlisted for jobs at the Service and then go ahead to ask for money to secure the jobs.
In a more daring move, these individuals have also reached out to staff already employed at KFS, promising promotions in exchange for money.
"Kenya Forest Service wishes to warn the public of fraudsters who are calling individuals claiming to have shortlisted them for job vacancies in the Service. These conmen then go ahead to demand money to secure the jobs. In addition, KFS staff have not been spared either, with calls made to them promising promotions in exchange for a certain amount of money," part of the statement read.
"Kenya Forest Service warns all members of the public and staff to beware of these conmen and to report any such phone calls to the nearest police station or KFS office for further investigation. All interviews for successful candidates or promotions in the case of staff are announced through official channels, and there is no money required for these processes."
In a similar notice, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) has also flagged as fake a communique calling for job applications.
Taking to social media on Saturday, KURA stamped the advertisement as fake and urged the public to be vigilant and only trust communications shared from their official website, social media, and email.
"Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent job advertisement circulating in certain media outlets. We wish to clarify that this advert is fake and does not originate from us," an accompanying statement by KURA read.
"We strongly advise the public to disregard the misleading information and always verify official communications through our official website, social media platforms, or email."
In the fake notice, several job opportunities were outlined in 22 departments, including 42 public relations officer vacancies and 62 vacancies for Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) coordinators.
However, the email offering to reach out to the recruiters was conspicuously not the authority's official email, as it had no words affiliating it with KURA.
These two warnings come on the heels of several other government institutions alerting the public of similar employment schemes framed to extort jobseekers off their money.
