HOAX: This Ethiopian Airlines cash give out claim is fake

The airline denounced the assertion as a scam.

This link shared in WhatsApp groups in Uganda claiming that Ethiopian Airlines is doling out cash as it celebrates its 77th anniversary is a HOAX.

On opening the link, a participant is asked to fill out an attached questionnaire to redeem €72,944 in the airline’s anniversary government grant.

The questionnaire has four parts focusing on one’s knowledge of the airline, age range, gender, and rating of the company. As one fills out the questionnaire, testimonies purportedly from previous winners pop up.

The participant is subsequently asked to select a box that is likely have the gift.

When the filling out of the questionnaire is completed, a final notification announces that the participant is successful. However, one must share the link on WhatsApp to claim the prize.

This is a common trick with phishing scams in which information is collected from unsuspecting users over false promises.

PesaCheck has verified similar links before and found them to be scams, as seen here and here.

We analysed this advert further.

A keyword search shows that the company was established on 21 December 1945, while a review of the airline’s social media handles found nothing about the purported anniversary or the cash offer.

When contacted, Meseret Tsegaye, the airline’s Uganda country manager, denied that they are running the campaign.

“This is a scam, it’s not genuine,” Tsegaye responded on WhatsApp.

Another keyword search led to a 2022 fact-check in which we debunked a claim with a similar cash offer from the airline.

PesaCheck looked into a link shared in WhatsApp groups in Uganda claiming that Ethiopian Airlines is giving out cash to celebrate its 77th anniversary and found it to be a HOAX.