Woman cries out after clicking fake ₦50,000 FG relief link, says scammers drained her account

• A woman has cried out after falling victim to a fake ₦50,000 FG relief payment link circulated on WhatsApp.

• She claims scammers began draining her bank account and later hijacked her Telegram account.

• The incident has renewed warnings about fraudulent websites exploiting government relief programmes to target Nigerians.

A woman has raised the alarm after losing money from her bank account and having her Telegram account compromised. These happened after she clicked on a fraudulent WhatsApp link promising Nigerians a ₦50,000 Federal Government cash grant.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, narrated her experience in a video shared by YabaLeft Online on X, crying and warning others against falling victim to similar messages.

According to her, she had repeatedly received messages containing links to the supposed ₦50,000 relief payment but ignored them until a friend convinced her to try one. She said the friend claimed to know someone who had received the money, making her believe the offer was genuine.

“You guys, do you remember that 50k grant that the state government is doing? A lot of people have been sending me the link, the link I kept ignoring. So one of my friends sent it to me… She said that she knew somebody who gave the 50k. And I clicked on the link.”

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In the video, the woman explained that after clicking the link, she was instructed to complete several tasks, including sharing the message with five or 10 people. She followed the instructions and was subsequently asked to provide her bank account number, which she also submitted.

However, rather than receiving the promised financial assistance, she began experiencing unauthorised withdrawals from her account.

"Since they took my account number, they just dey debit me," she lamented.

The experience worsened when the website redirected her to join a Telegram bot while completing the registration process. She claimed that her Telegram account was subsequently hacked, leaving her distressed and pleading for help.

A variation of the fraudulent message circulating on WhatsApp claims that the Federal Government, through the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, is offering ₦50,000 to all Nigerians without requiring their Bank Verification Number (BVN).

It directs recipients to a website, billnova.online/fg50k, and encourages them to share the link with others.

However, the website is not an official government platform. The Federal Government's National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention (NERSI) programme is real, but its ₦50,000 payments are intended for selected vulnerable households identified through existing national records, not everyone who completes an online form.

According to the ministry, beneficiaries are contacted directly through approved payment providers like Opay, Moniepoint, etc. The official programme website is https://fmhapr.gov.ng/nersi/.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also warned Nigerians about phishing schemes that impersonate government agencies and other trusted organisations to steal sensitive personal and financial information.

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Anyone who has submitted banking details through a suspicious link should immediately contact their bank to secure their account, report unauthorised transactions, block the account and change compromised passwords.

Avoid sharing suspicious links or providing your banking details, PINs and one-time passwords (OTPs) to unknown websites.