Nigerians, Beware of Facebook Account Impersonating Money App Opay

13 July 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

IN SHORT: A Facebook page is impersonating popular financial service company, OPay, and offering false investments to Nigerians. The real company says it does not have an investment platform.

A number of Facebook posts circulating in Nigeria appear to be advertising the mobile money operator OPay, and include a video of a woman who claims to have received payment from OPay cash investment.

A 23 June 2023 post reads: "OPAY CASH INVESTMENT LIMITED is a company duely registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria and certified fraud free to do business in Nigeria by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)."

The EFCC investigates financial crimes in the country.

The post also says: 'This is a Nigerian network marketing company that has collaboration with the CBN and also the government to help the disable and unemployed citizens of the country achieve their goal."

The post is published by the account OPAY CASH Investment which uses the name and logo of OPay Digital Services Limited. This company is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, and offers financial services to over 18 million registered app users.

The post has over 500 comments, most of them from users saying the platform is real and does pay out while others enquire about ways to join.

Similar posts can be found here, here, here, here and here.

But can these investment opportunities be trusted?

Signs of scam

The company's verified page on Facebook is under the name OPay, not "OPAY CASH Investment".

The suspicious account has no more than seven followers, while the official OPay page has over 380,000.

OPay offers investment opportunities through its OWealth savings product in the app. These plans promise annual interest rates of up to 15%.

"OPay does not have any investment group or platform. Do not send money to any Opay investment account," reads a message on the company's Twitter page.

OPay asks users to contact its support team in cases of suspected fraud.

The post is one of several investment scams Africa Check has uncovered, such as here, here and here.

To help protect yourself against online scams, read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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