The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians to beware of Fraudulent loans being offered to the unsuspecting public by fraudsters on social media.
In a statement, on Monday, the apex bank said such loans are fake and not coming from the Federal Government.
CBN said in the statement: “The attention of the CBN messages in the social media circles requesting unsuspecting loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to apply for loans provided by the Federal Government through an e-mail address (empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com) purportedly being handled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“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,” it said.
The bank said “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)”.
Continuing the apex bank said “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 empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com 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”.
The CBN urged “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”.
