Beware of false loan empowerment scheme, CBN warns Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive to the public to beware of people who send fraudulent messages under the guise of loan givers for small scale businesses.

In a statement released on the website of the apex bank titled ‘Beware of Fraudulent Loan offers’ the CBN said the email address [email protected] was a false address which should not be associated with them.

The bank also said it does not deal directly with any prospective small business owner, as it has laid down procedures for accessing intervention funds which are disbursed through Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs).

The statement written by Isaac Okorafor reads in part: “Members of the public, particularly youth and owners of small-scale businesses, are therefore advised to disregard any message requesting them to send their personal details, including mobile phone numbers, to emails such as [email protected] or any other one that may be contrived. These messages are fake and anyone who enters into correspondence with them does so at his or her own risk.

“Prospective applicants are advised to approach their respective banks or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) branch nearest to them for clarification on the procedure for accessing any of the CBN-related loans.”

In 2017, the apex bank issued a warning to the public to desist from patronizing a faceless group that went about defrauding entrepreneurs under the guise of assisting them with loans. The group reportedly made use of electronic mail that was cloned with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to ask prospective applicants to pay certain amount of money to register for the loan application.

On its website, all CBN emails end with either @cenbank.org or @cbn.gov.ng. Members of the public should do their due diligence in verifying the validity of the emails that send messages to them.