This website, StartUp Investment Fund, presents itself as a joint effort of the Bank of Industry, the African Development Bank, and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment to mentor and fund 100,000 small businesses. This is a con that aims to obtain applicants’ personal information, including their bank verification number and national identity number, for illegal activity. These supposedly affiliated organizations have completely discredited them.
For those keeping an eye on the space, these crooks have capitalized on the new Startup Act, which was recently signed into law with a 10 billion naira investment fund for innovators, to quickly engage in building a website depicting a collaboration amongst the government agencies.
This is concerning as cybercrime in Africa continues to rise. According to a Q2 report from Kaspersky, a cybersecurity firm, it detected over 10,722,886 similar phishing websites. It is time for individuals to stop sharing free coupons and bonus links. Your information will be used in fraudulent financial schemes. The government should go beyond simply issuing these disclaimers and instead pursue, track down, arrest, and prosecute those involved in these scams. Fraudulent financial schemes run rampant, and it is time for the government to go beyond simply issuing these disclaimers.
