Journalist Philip Etale has revealed that he has been swindled out of his hard-earned cash by fraudsters masquerading as TopTank.

Etale, who is the Director of Communications at ODM, said he made a purchase of a 5,000-litre water tank from the said vendors by paying Sh24,000.

According to the invoice shared by the journalist, out of the total amount he paid for the tank, Sh20,160 was the product’s value, while Sh3,840 went into 16 percent VAT.

Details on the document showed that the tank was to be delivered to his Lugari home. The salesperson was Caroline Ngina, and the sale was completed on April 10, 2025.

Etale says he realized that his money had landed in the wrong hands after the suspects switched off their phones and cut off communication with him after he made the payment.

“Please NOTE that these guys are con-people. They swindled me and switched off their phones. They promised to deliver a 5,000-litre tank… conmen,” he wrote on Facebook.

His post attracted a barrage of reactions, with a section of Kenyans slamming him for not doing his due diligence when making a purchase online.

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Here are some reactions:

Peter Matianyi: Maybe some people impersonated the TopTank staff and conned you, otherwise TopTank is a reputable company. I ordered a tank from them and they delivered it to Bungoma at my doorstep.

Philip Gitau: You’re too gullible, young man!! Ukitaka tank tembelea hardware physically (If you want a tank, go to a physical hardware shop).

Japhe Wa Jaymo: Show me where a 10k-litre tank goes for 48k and I will make an order right now… Red flags were all over your eyes but you ignored them.

Jos Mchelsea: Have been here before, I was conned 36k ya 5000ltrs…we move…BTW niko hadi na OB number (By the way, I even have an OB number).

Fred Kenyanya Nyabao: 10k litres can’t be less than 100k. When a deal is too appealing, think many times, not even twice.

Charles Njanga: They have been doing this for some time. They keep changing the advert and phone number.

Bizna Kenya visited the page of the vendor and all we saw were red flags. The page appears to have been recently created, with its first post being made on April 6 at 8:35 p.m. The posts on the page were all made on the same day and within a span of 25 minutes, with the last post going live at 8:53 p.m. It also had no reviews at the time of publishing this story.

The last post was the busiest, with a whopping 766 comments, 24 shares, and over 573 likes.

Some of the people who commented that they were in need of the water tanks had locked profiles—signs that they could be part of the profiles being used to lure other unsuspecting Kenyans into the scam. Their comments are aimed at making the page look legit.

Another red flag was that the page only had 186 followers.

The real TopTank Facebook page has 18k likes and over 20k followers and is linked on the official websites. On the websites, 10,000-litre tanks retailed at Sh120,713 and Sh91,800 for the Deluxe and Standard versions respectively. The fake profile was selling the same at Sh48,000.

For the 5,000-litre category, the TopTank website had the prices as follows: at least Sh39,375 (standard), Sh58,500 (deluxe), Sh64,013 (conical), and Sh109,800 for the horizontal septic tank.

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How to detect fake Facebook pages:

To detect a fake Facebook page impersonating a retailer, watch out for the following:

• Verification badge: Legit brands have the blue badge, but note that some legit brands don’t have it either. So don’t rely on this alone.

• Page details: Most fake pages are created recently, and their posts are made in quick succession to make the page appear active.

• Reviews and post engagement: On such posts, you’ll notice many people commenting “interested” or “how much?” but there’s no real conversation. These are generic replies, and the accounts are likely linked to the scam.

• Website link: Is there a website link? Does it lead to a legit website? Most fake pages don’t have one, and if they do, it likely redirects to a fake site. So, you need to do a quick Google search to locate the real website of the legit vendor.

• Phone numbers: These pages constantly change contact details and pressure you to pay quickly, “before the discounted stock runs out.”

The key is in the details. You also need to trust your gut; if something feels off, it probably is. When the deal is too good, that’s always your cue to think twice.