My friend recently bought an iPhone on social media. She thought it was really affordable and I thought it was too good to be true. She’s all the way in Coast and her new iPhone 6s which was going for 20k was being delivered from Nairobi. I warned her that there were many fakes, but I am a skeptic and this time it served me well. A few days later, she called the business owner, he had blocked her number and blocked her on IG, he blocked me too after I commented on one of this posts and wrote “your account is fake, you don’t sell phones”. You can only imagine how many other people they have done this to, so how do you know if a business is a fake?
1. They don’t engage much with clients
If you see the business owners never engage much with clients then there’s a possibility it’s a fake. Accounts that only broadcast or push out updates and content instead of having conversations and engaging with other community members are often fake
2. Provide misleading information about the destination of a link
If the account keeps sharing the same link to an item in such a short time then there’s cause for alarm.
3. They’ll ask for money before delivery
If a business owner asks for money before delivery that is most likely a fake business. Always refuse to give money before delivery, you would rather buy the product by yourself instead of ordering it online.
4. No verification badge
Okay, not all businesses have verification badges but if the company is a known company then a badge should help you. For example, Twitter displays a light blue verification badge (check-mark icon) at the top left corner of a verified account, above the profile name, Twitter handle and bio. Badges that appear on a different part of the profile, such as a user’s avatar, are not legitimate.