Two Facebook accounts "Maria Thérèse Valdez" and "Don Monique" have published a post with a photograph of a woman, through which they have claimed to build a fabricated story, allegedly that the person seen in this image is Kimete Nikqi from Kosovo, but who currently lives in France.
In this fictional story, it is said that this woman has decided to share her wealth, as she is suffering from an illness.
This fabricated story has been shared previously by other Facebook accounts. One of these accounts was handled by hibrid.info. (see here)
Link to the post published on Facebook by the accounts "Maria Thérèse Valdez" and "Don Monique":
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090831265693
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089890813419
Post published on Facebook by the accounts "Maria Thérèse valdez":
Hello, I am sharing this information because I want to donate my retirement pension. Apparently I have terminal brain cancer, so I want to donate 300,000 euros from my estate. I am looking for beneficiaries for my benefit. My name is kimete nikqi, I come from Kosovo but I am hospitalized in France where I have spent the last few days. If you are interested, do not hesitate to contact me. Click on my WhatsApp account ????????????https://wa.me//+22959446772
From what can be understood from the advertisement, it is seen that the story is fabricated in such a way that it appears that the woman with the false identity, Kimete Nikqi, is sick with cancer, is from Kosovo and lives in France. According to this advertisement, a fictional story is also constructed that claims that this woman with the false identity wants to share her wealth, since she is suffering from cancer.
The account named "Maria Thérèse Valdez" claims, through a fabricated story, that people interested in receiving this woman's wealth should contact her via a number on the "WhatsApp" application, which begins with the prefix +22.
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has found that publications that present contact numbers that start with this prefix can easily be scams.
Such fabricated stories with contact numbers starting with the prefix +22 have previously been addressed by the Bolivian fact-checkers, boliviaverifica.bo, which, like hibrid.info, are verified members of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). The treatment by this fact-checker clarifies that calls made to the numbers presented within such fabricated stories end up with money spent (stolen) from phone credit. (see here)
Another additional fact that proves that the number put in these advertisements with fictional stories is not related to the country of France (which is mentioned in the fabricated story), is the prefix +22. So this prefix was found to be of the African country, Senegal (here), while France has the prefix +33 (here).
Analyze:
From the fact-checking process and their treatment, it was understood that the claim made in this post is completely fabricated. So this post made by the accounts “Maria Thérèse valdez” and “Don Monique” on Facebook is a fabricated story based on fake photos. This page in this announcement has falsely claimed that the woman is Kimete Nikqi from Kosovo.
The account “Maria Thérèse Valdez” has posted a phone number, inviting those interested to claim the woman’s wealth. After research conducted through online search engines, it was found that phone numbers starting with the prefix +22 are scams.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info rates this post/notification as "Fraud".