It’s a hard time, most especially for the average people around the World as inflation bites harder. The trying moment has forced millions of people to seek soft loans to augment the situation.
Unfortunately, this is also the time you could lose the little you have while trying to get a credit facility. At a time like this, online scammers could dubiously lure you into losing your money.
Here are the 10 ways to know that a loan is a scam and how you could be scammed while you are trying to get financial support from the government, financial institutions, or money lenders.
Loan Via SMS
When you get an SMS saying: “Your loan application has been validated and successful, pay $2,000 to receive your $100,000 loan.”
Ordinarily, you might want to borrow $2,000 just to claim $100K, but hey, did you apply for the loan? Does government grant and loans come easy like that?
Besides, you don’t get a loan via SMS when you’ve not applied, watch out for this and steer clear of dubious loan SMS you never applied for.
Loans via Email
Are you ready to lose your money in 60 seconds? Very simple: Simply honour an unsolicited loan sent to you via email.
Most times, fraudsters use email. It gives them more room to explain how to make payment to them for you to claim the loan you’ve not applied for.
Loan Via Telegram
Online fraudsters are seriously migrating to one of the best messaging app Telegram. Sometimes, they get your details from a public group, private chat you for investment opportunities.
Once you showed interest, they begin to send unsolicited messages to you. One of such dubious messages is:
“You’ve qualified for a loan”
Ask yourself two questions: 1) Did I apply for the loan, 2) Is the company they are impersonating on telegram?
Watch Out!
Corporate Impersonation
Another way to know that a loan is a scam is when a corporate firm is impersonated. A firm named UBA Investment just sent you a message on Facebook or Twitter that you just qualified for a loan?
Here is the point…
Fraudsters impersonate a big brand to gain your trust. There is nothing like UBA Investment. We only have UBA, which is a bank.
No bank approves loans on social media. No bank grants loan application for which you’ve never submitted an application.
If you’ve ever submitted a loan application in a bank, you’d know that a financial institution is strict when it comes to credit facilities. And it isn’t done on social media.
Sometimes, they use the logo a popular brand. Shine your eyes!
Sweet talk
This is known as “Persuasive” marketing. Fraudsters use these tactics, they let you know the non-existent advantages of their loans compared to their competitors.
Don’t even give them a chance. Once an intruder slides into your DM or wall with sweet offers, block him “sharp-sharp” i.e quickly. No time!
Asked to share your password
A stranger says your loan has been approved and asked for your debit card serial number and transaction PIN or card CVV for your loan to be disbursed, and you gave this sensitive info out?
In less than 120 seconds, you could lose everything in your account. No bank or legitimate money lender would ask or need those details to process your loan. Don’t be a mugu! i.e Don’t be gullible
Impersonating Loan portal
Recently, one assistnigeria.org launched a one-page portal luring Nigerian youths to apply for funding. It uses the logo of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to make its target believe that the portal is real.
It was a scam!
The ministry attested to this. Though thousands of Nigerians who are desperately in need of financial assistance had submitted their details including banking details before they were alerted.
Why the red alert wasn’t too late, the bad guys behind the fake funding portal will definitely use the little details on their database to dupe applicants.
The portal doesn’t have about us, no contact details, even if it does, it could be fake.
Avoid it if it sounds too good to be true!
Impersonating Loan portal The portal doesn’t have about us, no contact details, even it does, it could be fake.
Phone calls
We heard some people were called in the ongoing government loan being disbursed by Nirsal MFB. That’s fine.
They will never disturb you to come to claim your loan. Only a dubious person will persistently disturb you on phone.
Most times, they constitute a nuisance, calling you to come and claim a non-existence loan.
That’s another way to know that a loan is a scam, shine your eyes, well well.
Too good to be true
Another red flag in a fraudulent loan is when you are told it’s a non-interest loan. A non-interest loan is peculiar to CBN or the government. Rarely can you find a moneylender who would grant you a non-interest loan?
Their source of income is 10% or more interest on your loan. So if you get a message from one of them saying you just got a loan without interest but you must pay a token to get it wired into your bank account, you don’t need a second thought to know the loan is a fraud. RUN!
Personality impersonation
So, you just received a phone call from Hajia Sadiya Farouq (humanitarian affairs minister) or Zainab Ahmed of finance that your loan is ready for clearance?
Congratulations, because you’re definitely on your way to lose your hard-earned money or the little you have on you.
No minister or his aides would ever call to update you about a loan. There are channels where that’s done.
They issue a press statement and update Nigerians on their verified social media handles. And there are banks that handle the disbursement. Don’t be deceived!
Takeaways:
You know that anyone can download a logo of a popular brand or a ministry off the internet and use it.
Do your due diligence before handing over your banking details to a stranger when you are applying for a loan.
There are genuine government loans, credit facilities by commercial banks and moneylenders, but you must watch out for the ones that impersonate them.
An online money lender would only send an SMS alert to you when you applied and your application is granted
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I have apply for for loan and I have filled all the information about the loan and still, I am unable to access the business loan