The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned the general public against fraudulent messages in the social media circles requesting unsuspecting loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to apply for loans.
The fraudsters behind these, claim that the loans are provided by the Federal Government through an e-mail address (empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com) purportedly being handled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
A statement signed by Mr Isaac Okorafor, Director, Corporate Communications at CBN on Monday noted that while the CBN, indeed, has several development finance intervention programmes from which different categories of businesses have benefitted (and still benefit), the Bank does not do so through direct interaction with prospective applicants.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there are clearly spelt out procedures for accessing CBN intervention funds, which are disbursed through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), such as Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs),” the statement read in part.
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The CBN, therefore, advises members of the public, particularly youth and owners of small-scale businesses, to disregard any message requesting them to send their personal details, including mobile phone numbers, to emails such as empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com or any other one that may be contrived. These messages it stated, 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.
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