The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) has issued an alert, warning prospective students and applicants about social media accounts impersonating top officials and soliciting money from unsuspecting individuals.
In an alert issued on Thursday, August 21, the institution specifically flagged two accounts, one impersonating Chief Executive Officer Kelly Oluoch and another claiming to be Registrar Ronald Wasike.
The two accounts are accused of attempting to scam students seeking various services including admission, course changes or transfers within the institution.
In one of the Facebook accounts flagged, the fraudulent registrar account claimed to offer several administrative services, including offering to assist students with inter-campus transfers and programme changes.
According to KMTC, The scammers were in exchange requesting mobile money payments as little as Ksh1,000 to expedite these services.
One notable red flag was that the fake registrar's account only had 31 followers while the CEO account had more potential to dupe students since it boasted more than 3000 followers, alongside other posts which can appear legitimate at first glance.
Official KMTC Communication
Notably, all communications connected to KMTC are typically communicated through the institution's official pages, including their X account which has over 37,000 followers.
Besides school fees, the KMTC also never asks for any other form of payments, particularly through personal phone numbers or unofficial platforms.
Founded in 1927, the KMTC is the country's largest institution for training healthcare professionals and operates under the Ministry of Health.
With over 71 campuses across the country and and is government-sponsored, the KMTC has emerged as one of the more lucrative institutions which scammers exploit to solicit money from prospective students.
The enticement of KMTC's programmes also lie in their direct link to employment in the public health sector. Recent data from the Ministry of Health estimated that over 85 percent of Kenya's medical workforce passed under KMTC at some point.
Another government entity which has grappled with scammers is the Social Health Authority (SHA), which recently flagged a job alert circulating on social media platforms purporting that the authority is recruiting employees.
