TheInvestigator contacted Mr Darlington Edem, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the state governor to verify the claim. In a short response, Edem said, “No. Please ignore.”
By TheInvestigator
Easter, also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The New Testament describes it as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary, c. 30 AD. Source: Wikipedia.
A link shared in over a dozen WhatsApp groups says the Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Edet Otu, is sharing “₦30,000 Easter Celebration Fund.”
The post directs visitors to a website. Upon landing on the homepage of this website, visitors are urged to “take advantage of this opportunity” by providing their bank account number, no BVN required.
After providing the bank account number, visitors would be asked to select their local government area. Then, share the information using a customised link to five (5) groups and 15 friends on WhatsApp and confirm the human verification tasks to get paid.
Verification
Investigating the authenticity of the claim, TheInvestigator took a closer look at the website and the offer.
Upon clicking on the link, web security alerts that it is a dangerous website.
TheInvestigator’s findings revealed that the website is a phishing website. According to Alexander S. Gillis, phishing is a fraudulent practice in which an attacker masquerades as a reputable entity or person in an email or other form of communication. Attackers commonly use phishing emails to distribute malicious links or attachments that can extract login credentials, account numbers and other personal information from victims.
The phishing website, which carries a logo and picture of Senator Bassey Edet Otu, is a one-page website. So far, it has 283K likes, 105K comments and 95K shares. Before
TheInvestigator contacted Mr Darlington Edem, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the state governor to verify the claim. In a short response, Edem said, “No. Please ignore.”
A WhatsApp user, Mr Charles Ibok, who shared the link, confirmed to TheInvestigator that “nah scam”.