Claim: This link promoting jobs purportedly advertised by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to assist in upcoming electoral proceedings in the country is a HOAX.
On clicking the link, this notice appears;
“The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) wishes to inform the general public that it is conducting an online recruitment drive to engage qualified and committed Zambians for various positions to assist in the Commission’s work and its upcoming electoral proceedings. Applications are now invited from suitably qualified Zambians to fill various positions across the country.”
The Electoral Commission of Zambia is currently preparing for local by-elections in Lumezi Constituency, Fibalala ward in Milenge District and Tuuwa ward in Sikongo District; all Scheduled for 26th June, 2025.
The website mimics ECZ's branding, using ECZ’s official logo and colour scheme to appear legitimate when it is fraudulent.
Applicants are asked to indicate whether or not they are Zambian citizens. After submitting their name, individuals are asked to provide key personal information, including their phone numbers, date of birth, level of education, and email addresses. Once all this information is provided, applicants are instead asked to share the link on WhatsApp to submit the application.
Requiring users to share applications on WhatsApp is suspicious and common with phishing scams, where people’s personal information is accessed using false promises to lure them. a phishing scam when it's shared through emails or websites that impersonate trusted institutions, aiming to steal personal data or extract money through fake applications. If the same portal is promoted via text messages with suspicious links, it becomes a smishing scam; a type of phishing delivered by SMS. In both cases, the goal is deception: to trick victims into submitting sensitive information, paying fake fees, or clicking harmful links.
Centre for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA) performed a Whois search to establish whether this application portal is registered by the Electoral Commission. However, the results show it is hosted by GitHub and registered in the United States.
On the contrary, the genuine Electoral Commission website is registered in Zambia. This was verified through a domain search conducted on the 'Zambia WHOIS Service' page of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) website.
When contacted, Patricia Luhanga, the Corporate Affairs Manager at the commission, confirmed that it is a fake online recruitment and has since been flagged the portal as a scam.
The purported jobs are not listed on the careers section of the Electoral Body’s website and there confirms the job advertisement to be a hoax.
This fact-check was produced by the Center for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA), by way of Mzeziti Mwanza, as part of the African Fact-checking Alliance incubation program. It was produced with peer-mentorship from Code for Africa’s fact checking initiative, PesaCheck with financial support from Norway. AFCA mentorship respects the journalistic independence of the researchers, offering access to advanced techniques and tools. Editorial decision remains with CYLA.