IMAGE: Namibia Fact Check / WhatsApp
Viral social media posts falsely claim that the Namibia Airports Company is recruiting staff for a variety of positions
The first post (image below), which appeared in WhatsApp groups, was first forwarded to Namibia Fact Check on 18 September 2023, but continued circulating through October 2023.
The viral post states:
“NAMIBIA AIRPORT COMPANY
Apply and enroll in our 2023 staff recruitment program.
APPLICATION ONGOING…
Apply Here
Another viral post, that appeared in Facebook groups, encouraged social media users to apply for airport cleaner jobs. Two versions of the post circulated in different Facebook groups into early November 2023 and the posts appear to have been around since June 2023.
A screenshot of one of the posts (image below) was forwarded to Namibia Fact Check on 11 October 2023.
Namibia Fact Check found that a similar post circulated virally back in December 2022 in a Facebook group with over 240,000 participants and attracted 155 engagements.
The latest post dates to 8 October 2023, and it was shared in a Job Seekers and Employee Seekers in Namibia group that has over 17,000 members.
No such jobs
Namibia Fact Check contacted the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) about the social media job advertisements and received a response from the entity’s CEO, Bisey Uirab, who denied that the posts came from the NAC.
“We advertise our vacancies in traditional media, like the daily national newspapers, and on our official NAC website. Interested people must always contact our offices directly should there be any doubt about the so-called adverts,” explained Uirab to Namibia Fact Check.
“There was no way that we could have advertised so many vacancies because we are not such a big organization to have so many vacancies,” he stated.
The scam posts are meant to either steal people’s personal information or to get them to pay money.
These sorts of posts tap into people’s desperation for employment at a time when jobs are scarce in Namibia.