Nigerians, Beware of Facebook Account Impersonating Popular Church and Trying to Recruit You to Join Its Fake Investment Platform

31 July 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

IN SHORT: Africa Check has investigated several investment scams. This one takes a different turn by impersonating a Nigerian church to offer false investment returns.

The Facebook account Winners church claims you can "be your own boss" and "turn beauty into money" if you join the investment platform being advertised. It also promises payouts within 45 minutes.

One of its posts, dated 8 July 2023, reads: "**Free Registration!!!!! free registration!!!* *Are you a student?* *A stay home mom?**A makeup artist?**A model?**A professional?**A school teacher?**A Corper?**Or you DON'T HAVE ANY QUALIFICATION but just want more out of life**It is time to rise!* *JOIN THE LEAGUE OF extraordinary women,Be your own Boss and turn BEAUTY into MONEY*"

The person in one of the two videos attached asks users to invest between N10,000 and N1 million.

Like many similar schemes we have debunked, this post includes a WhatsApp link for users who want to join the platform.

The page uses the name and logo of Nigeria's Living Faith Church Worldwide, popularly known as Winners Chapel.

Users, especially Christians, could fall prey and lose their money in the hope of making more.

But is this another investment scam? We checked.

Signs of scam

Africa Check has investigated several claims of investments offering double profits. We have found that scam accounts often have poorly written posts.

This post is no exception: it is full of asterisks, random capitalisation and confusing claims.

The page in question has only 16 followers and was created on 18 September 2022.

Africa Check found the church's official Facebook page, with over 2.8 million followers. In comparison to the suspicious page, the official Winners Chapel International's account was created on 31 December 2011. The church was founded by David Olaniyi Oyedepo.

This fake page follows the pattern of previous scams Africa Check has uncovered 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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