In June, a father of two in Kimironko filed a case to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) regarding a social commerce scam he had suffered after ordering and prepaying for commodities advertised on social media. He wanted to surprise his wife with a kitchen makeover after 10 years, and paid Rwf400,000 to an Instagram seller for household appliances that never arrived.

The seller had supplied a delivery note, requested his personal details and promised to deliver a double-door refrigerator, gas cooker and juice maker. Then the seller disappeared.

The appliances were advertised on an Instagram account using the name Smart Gulio, and the total purchase price was Rwf810,000. After negotiating with the seller, the buyer agreed to pay half upfront and the remaining Rwf410,000 upon delivery.

He transferred the Rwf400,000 through mobile money to a recipient whose names were displayed as xxx.

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The seller requested his name, telephone number and home address, reportedly to prepare electronic billing machine (EBM) invoices and arrange delivery. A delivery note followed, bearing an address in Muhanga.

But the goods never arrived. Calls went unanswered, and the Instagram account was deleted.

When the buyer asked a contact in Muhanga to verify the address, the person could not confirm it. He also contacted Smart Gulio, a Tanzanian electronics business whose product photographs appeared on the Instagram page.

The company said it had no branch in Rwanda and was not working with anyone there.

He had already sold his old refrigerator to make room for the new one. Instead of upgrading his kitchen, he was left without the appliances and facing the loss of his deposit. He reported the case to the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB).

ALSO READ: Digital fraud in Rwanda declines below global average

The case shows how vulnerable buyers can be when dealing with sellers who work online, and the need to establish safeguards in such space.

Emmanuel Gatare, founder and managing director of Opus Digital, says the growth of social commerce has made it increasingly important for buyers to identify whom they are dealing with before sending money.

Unlike established e-commerce platforms, which typically have processes for handling delivery problems and refunds, social media allows almost anyone to advertise products and direct prospective customers towards a payment method.

"How credible is the resource?” Gatare asks, urging buyers to assess the credibility of a seller rather than accepting an online profile at face value.

Philibert Murwanashyaka, co-founder and chief executive officer of Yali Labs, cautions that online reviews can also mislead buyers when they create an artificial impression of credibility.

Gatare warns that online scams are evolving alongside artificial intelligence and other digital technologies, making some forms of deception harder to recognise.

Deepfakes, for example, use fabricated audio or video to make people appear to say or do things they never did. Such material can exploit the trust people place in familiar faces and convincing visual evidence.

Another technique involves manipulating company names, logos and typography to imitate established businesses. Small differences in spelling or presentation can escape notice, leading buyers to believe they are dealing with a genuine company.

The same risk applies when fraudulent sellers copy product photographs from established retailers.

In the Kimironko case, the buyer said he noticed a further inconsistency in photographs posted by the seller.

"I noticed that the delivery van they posted had a steering wheel on the right, which is not common in Rwanda” he said.

Gatare advises buyers to verify business addresses, confirm the seller's identity and establish whether the information provided about the business is consistent. Buyers purchasing from foreign sellers should consider established platforms rather than relying solely on social media accounts.

Murwanashyaka warns buyers to be cautious when the business name on transaction documents differs from the name of the person or entity receiving the payment.

"Although a mismatch does not automatically prove fraud, it should be explained before the transaction proceeds,” he said.

He also identifies cryptocurrency payments as a serious warning sign in ordinary online shopping, particularly when a buyer is dealing with an unknown seller.

"To me, if the seller asked to be paid in cryptocurrency, that is exactly a scam. You should never pay anyone you don’t know in cryptocurrency, no matter how legitimate you think they are,” he said.

Figures presented by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) on October 8 show that reported financial-sector fraud cases fell from 4,128 in the second quarter of 2025 to 2,879 in the same period of 2026, a decline of approximately 30.3 per cent.

The amount of money involved decreased from Rwf637 million to Rwf471 million over the same period.