The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has flagged a fake post targeting teachers seeking jobs as examiners.
On Sunday, April 13, the council raised alarm over a fraudulent message on social media purporting that applicants who have paid but have not received an official message from KNEC should still proceed to designated venues with their digital receipts as proof of payment.
Part of the misleading text flagged by KNEC read: "Those who have paid but have not received KNEC invitational messages should not worry. Just show up at the indicated venues with their messages."
It went on, "We have communicated with some of the KNEC trainers, and they understand that the system has issues. We have also noticed this issue is all over, so stay calm and prepare to travel to those venues. Safe journey."
The post, shared on Saturday, has since gone viral, possibly duping tens of aspiring examiners hoping to take part in the national marking exercise.
KNEC discredited the claims by stamping "FAKE" on the posts, emphasising that only teachers who have received formal invitation letters are eligible to participate in the national exam marking process.
While KNEC has digitised most of its systems and processes, its system is not flawless, with several reports of downtimes being reported in the recent past.
These system issues have opened the door for unscrupulous individuals to dupe aspiring examiners, as they use the downtimes to incentivise unsuccessful candidates into scams. In this case, the scammers were targeting applicants yet to receive an official message from KNEC by pushing the narrative that it was possibly because of downtimes.
However, becoming a KNEC examiner is an extremely competitive process, with thousands of teachers registered with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) applying each year. However, only those who meet the qualifications typically make the cut.
In the past, KNEC has urged anyone seeking information about the council's activities to always check the council's official handles to avoid falling victim to fraud. Additionally, KNEC typically considers teachers who meet the council’s requirements for the examiner jobs.
February 2025 also saw scammers attempt to use KNEC's influence and name to dupe Kenyans by asking them to pay to upgrade Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE) results.
In a post on Tuesday, February 4, KNEC flagged a social media post asking parents and other interested parties to apply for grade upgrades and processing of KCSE certificates.
