First up is a story about how Nigeria’s vice president Yemi Osinbajo is disbursing $750 million to Nigerians as part of a Covid recovery initiative, according to a message circulating on WhatsApp. The message read “Hurry now and check if you are eligible to receive 33,000 support from VP Yemi Osinbajo’s $750 million COVID-19 recovery initiative. This grant is available to all Nigerians” Here is what we know:
There is no sign of such an offer on Osinbajo’s verified Facebook and Twitter accounts. The link in the message leads to a poorly designed web page where visitors are asked to give their names and phone numbers to access the grant. Then the grammatical errors on the website suggest that it was not created by professionals, such as would typically handle the vice president’s communication.
Remember that in November 2021 the Nigerian Communications Commission, which oversees the operations of telecommunications companies in the country, warned of online scams designed to collect information that could later be used to defraud individuals.
