Nigerians, Beware of Facebook Account Offering to Double Your Money in the Name of Popular Investment App

24 July 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

IN SHORT: A Facebook page is offering investment opportunities in the name of a popular investment app in Nigeria. But beware: The company says it is not affiliated with the scheme.

"Good evening everyone I thank God almighty for making this great platform (PIGGYVEST INVESTMENT) real for me.When I was told,I was thinking it was a scam or MMM, but when I gave it a try of 5k, I was credited double 10k under 45 minutes, I make a try of 20k again surprisingly I received my credit alert of 40k again between 30 minutes ..." reads a post on Facebook.

The post, dated 8 July 2023, encourages users to "chat with the admin" using the WhatsApp link in the post.

PiggyVest is a financial services provider headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

The Facebook post also has a screenshot of a cellphone credit alert of N100,000, possibly in an attempt to convince users that the post is genuine.

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

But are these posts legitimate PiggyVest investment opportunities? We checked.

Sign of scam

One of the signs that this could be a scam is that the post was made by a personal and not business account.

The company's page on Facebook is PiggyBankNG and it has over 33,000 followers.

Scammers often use the names of accredited institutions to steal money from users desperate to make a quick buck.

Posts that are not made by the company's page should be viewed with doubt.

PiggyVest, formerly Piggybank, warns customers

PiggyVest was initially created as a mobile savings platform for the public in 2016. It was known as PiggyBankuntil 2019 when it rebranded. It changed its name to PiggyVest and began to offer direct investment opportunities in addition to savings.

The company's products include Piggybank, Invest, Safelock, Target Savings, Flex Naira, and Flex Dollar. But the investment product does not offer a "double" profit, like the Facebook posts promise.

In a tweet, the company advised customers to not communicate with anyone outside of its official social media pages.

A representative of the company told Africa Check the company was not affiliated with the investment scheme being promoted on Facebook.

"All PiggyVest official social media accounts are verified and our available investment opportunities can be found only on our mobile app," they said.

Africa Check has previously investigated similar false investment schemes 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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