A fake letter floating on social media alleges that two Kenyan officials are subject to a travel ban from the United States. Some of the posts making the allegations appear below.
Wash wash niggas slapped with a Travel ban. No setting foot the the US and more to come pic.twitter.com/BVsq74hXeQ
— Dominic™ (@domm_ke) December 2, 2024
KCB Bank must reconsider its role in funding the Adani Bamburi connection. Kenyan banks cannot aid financial schemes. A travel ban should be imposed where applicable. #PPPBamburi pic.twitter.com/KKjRwt8zYM
— 21 Average (@Blury_xl) December 2, 2024
The FBI has imposed travel ban on Kipchumba Murkomen and Oscar sudi from accessing the united states for receiving bribes that facilitated Adani Group in Kenya pic.twitter.com/VyqEuCTCl1
— The Government Critic (@magwaz3) December 2, 2024
FACT CHECK
Firstly, the letter purports to come from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This is the first glaring mistake. USCIS, the agency referred in the letter, does not issue travel bans and sanctions on individuals. The United States’s State Department is the one that is in charge of issuing travel bans, and it does so publicly. In the past, it has issued travel ban to Kenyan officials and the decisions have been made public.
Secondly, the letter appears to originate from a handful of X accounts and not from official accounts of the purported agencies, which cast doubts into the authenticity of the letter. Any letter that does not originate from official sources is likely to be fraudulent and fake
The letter is also riddled with several spelling mistakes that are not typical of official letters. It also has several grammatical mistakes that are not consistent with official documents, which further compromises its validity. For example, the letter misspells the name “Onesmus”, “tourist visa”, “coordination”, and “individuals”. Such mistakes point out that the letter is indeed not an official document.
Some social media users already made observations debunking the letter.
The so-called ‘travel ban’ document circulating has many typos, formatting issues etc. Also, USCIS doesn’t issue travel bans since that is the role of the State Department. This is fake but I wish it was true. pic.twitter.com/bt0Y0OnHFd
— Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) December 2, 2024
Reasons why that document is fake… Oscar and Kipchumba Us Travel Ban pic.twitter.com/95GUy42XIH
— Sam Nato (@SamNato) December 2, 2024
In order to spot disinformation, the first step is to look for header and footer anomalies.
Then look for language and grammar.
Finally, glaring spelling errors.
In this case, its the spelling error that gives it away. pic.twitter.com/CXGQEy8ngp
— Mihr Thakar (@MihrThakar) December 2, 2024
Furthermore, the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya has denied that the letter originated from their embassy.
Verdict
The letter is fake and misleading.
