'Beware Of Fraudulent Investment Schemes' - NITDA

Nigerians have been alerted on the ways they could be tricked into partaking in fraudulent financial schemes.

This alert comes from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through its spokeswoman, Hadiza Umar, who stated that NITDA was unaffiliated with any fraudulent schemes.

It also advised that proper verification of the firms be conducted, as users can be lured into disclosing their personal details, especially on the social media platform WhatsApp.

“These fraudulent Financial Investment companies lure users by requesting that you join their WhatsApp group, consequently, they access records of citizens' phone numbers. These phone numbers can further be used in SMS scams as well as other various cybercrimes," the statement read.

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“The general public is advised to always verify if these firms have clearance from relevant Government Agencies mandated to license Corporate Investment Advisers. The public is further advised to be wary of any quick wins schemes especially if it violates the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation.

“Furthermore, NITDA strongly advises the general public to disregard the malicious investment scheme even if the people behind such purportedly use NITDA’s name, its affiliates, logo, and or staff of the agency as a bait to lure the people."