By Adedapo Adesanya
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has drawn the attention of the public to a fraudulent scam been carried out on vulnerable Nigerians during the period of lockdown in some parts of the country.
The Commission disclosed that fraudsters are carrying out a scam that promises a “Free N5000 Lockdown Funds to Sustain During Lockdown”
Making this disclosure was the Acting Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu on Tuesday, April 28.
He said, “The circulation of the fake funds is being carried out online through a phishing link via WhatsApp. The link is embedded with a link titled https://bit.ly/free-N5000. Whenever the link is clicked, it would redirect recipients of the message to a phishing website address https://fg-free-funds.blogspot.com.
“Visitors to this fraudulent website will find an online questionnaire from which they must respond in order to trigger the phishing”.
According to the EFCC Chief, the phishing website is curiously hosted on a Google server.
“However, registration information of the website is being investigated and members of the public are advised to be wary of any Lockdown Funds dressed in any suspicious garb”, he added.
It would be recalled that the EFCC had in a recent release cautioned Nigerians against fake cures and donations, especially fake charities springing up claiming to offer guidelines on donations to government and ordinary Nigerians in a bid to cope with the discomfort arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Magu then reiterated the commitment of the EFCC to monitor closely the antics of fraudsters cashing in on the government lockdown directives to perpetrate criminal acts.
“We would not stop bursting every scheme designed to defraud Nigerians of their hard- earned money,” he concluded.
