Nigeria: Ignore These Five Facebook Pages Offering Loans in the Name of Opay, Nigeria's Popular Mobile Money Operator

12 September 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

IN SHORT: Several Facebook pages claiming to represent a popular mobile banking platform are offering loans to users. But don't be scammed - they're not affiliated with OPay.

The Facebook pages OPay loan service, Opay loan Service, Opay loan, OPay loan services and Opay loan services offer quick loans to Nigerians.

A typical post on the pages reads: "OPAY DIGITAL LOAN APPLY FOR PERSONAL LOAN AND BUSINESS LOAN IN JUST 30 MINUTES."

They also claim to offer a generous repayment plan with no bank verification number required. The 11-digit unique number was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to protect banking transactions from fraud.

OPay is a mobile banking platform operating in Nigeria.

Examples of the posts can be found here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)

But are the loan offers and pages legit? We checked.

Suspicious pages

The Facebook pages in question have few followers and minimal activity on their timelines. This is a red flag, as OPay has millions of customers.

According to their page transparency sections, these pages were all created in 2024.

Africa Check found the official Facebook page of OPay. It was created in 2019 and has over half a million followers. The page is also verified by Meta.

In response to loan requests, OPay said: "Please be informed that loan services are currently unavailable on OPay."

The company directed loan applicants to OKash, its automated lending service.

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

The same fake offers can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

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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