Article summary
- The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has dismissed a viral grant scheme attributed to President Bola Tinubu as fake and fraudulent.
- The scheme, circulating on social media, claims to offer a cash grant of N50,000 to Nigerians but is actually a phishing website designed to collect personal information for fraudulent activities.
- NITDA warned the public to be cautious of clicking on unknown links and entering their details on untrusted websites to avoid falling victim to cyber criminals. The agency emphasized that the government would communicate such programs through appropriate channels if they exist.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has dismissed a viral grant scheme being circulated on social media as ‘President Bola Tinubu’s N50,000 Cash Grant’ to Nigerians.
The Agency described the scheme as fake and fraudulent in a statement signed by Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, of Corporate Affairs and External Relations, NITDA, which was released on Wednesday. Umar, who cautioned Nigerians about the scheme, said that the website associated with the grant was a phishing website designed to mislead unsuspecting citizens.
According to her, NITDA-Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (NITDA-CERRT) discovered that the site is being used to harvest people’s information for fraud.
Warning to the public
Warning Nigerians to be wary of clicking untrusted links and entering their details on untrusted websites, NITDA in the statement said:
- “NITDA-Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (NITDA-CERRT) hereby wish to advise the public to avoid clicking on unknown links. The website ‘https://thryt.com/50k-CashGrants, is a phishing website that tends to lure users into divulging their personal information, such as full name, phone number, home address, email address, and bank account details, such as name of bank and account number.
- “Avoid clicking on this website and other similar websites, which can lead to divulging personal information in order not to fall prey to cyber criminals.”
She explained that government would always communicate such information via the appropriate agency supervising such programmes, should there be any.