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Claim: A viral post on social media claims that the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has initiated a recruitment exercise, requiring applicants to pay GHC 350 through a short code to access registration forms.
Verdict: False. The Ghana Immigration Service has debunked the claim. Other verified social media accounts show that the service has not published any recruitment.
Full Text
A post circulating on Facebook and X alleges that the Ghana Immigration Service is recruiting and demands a payment of GHC 350 via a short code for registration. The post, which has garnered over 400,000 views on X, has triggered backlash, with users questioning why a state institution would charge money for recruitment. One account, @tech_twi, expressed frustration over what it described as the Service “demanding money from jobseekers.” The post has also been published on Facebook.
DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim due to its virality and the potential to defraud innocent citizens.
Verification
Checks by DUBAWA show that the claim is false. The flyer promoting the alleged recruitment featured usernames of supposed official accounts, including “ghanaimmigration444” on TikTok and X. A quick search revealed that these accounts do not exist. The flyer also carried a short code, *422*473#, allegedly for payment. However, when tested, the code returned the response: “Sorry, extension cannot be verified.”
A review of GIS’s official communication channels, including its website (gis.gov.gh), shows no announcement of a recruitment exercise.
When contacted, the GIS customer support representative clarified that recruitment is only announced through the Service’s official platforms and in national newspapers, not via random social media flyers or short codes. DUBAWA also searched the service’s social media accounts on its website. Links to Facebook and X are there. However, the X account does not exist, and the Facebook account does not show a recruitment post.
This is not the first time fraudulent recruitment notices have targeted the public. They often circulate such claims to deceive job seekers into paying fake “processing fees.” The Ghana Immigration Service has repeatedly cautioned the public to ignore such scams and to rely only on official announcements.
Conclusion
The claim that the Ghana Immigration Service is currently recruiting and charging applicants GHC 350 through a short code is false.
