IN SHORT: Facebook pages are advertising an investment scheme called Norland. But be warned, the pages and platform are run by scammers.
The Facebook pages Norland Investment Platform, Norland investment platform, Norland investment company, NTA News Nigerias, BBC News Nigeria, Norland Investment and ATI News Nigeria are promoting an investment platform called Norland.
They say Norland Investment can double users’ money in less than two hours and include links to WhatsApp accounts where users can register.
Some of the posts include videos of celebrities, such as politician Dino Melaye and the late actor John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu.
The pages have posted Norland Investment opportunities here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But are the pages and the platform legit? We checked.
Fake pages and signs of a scam
Three of the pages – NTA News Nigerias, BBC News Nigeria and ATI News Nigeria – use the names and logos of well-known media houses.
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) is a government-owned television station. Its official Facebook page is NTA Network News. It has over 937,000 followers and was created in 2014. But the suspicious page was created in March 2024.
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is one of the biggest news agencies in the world. It has a verified BBC News Africa page, and broadcasts in several languages spoken in Nigeria, including BBC News Pidgin, BBC News Yoruba and BBC News Igbo.
The ATI News Nigeria page uses the name of the popular news organisation AIT News. But the media house’s official Facebook page is AIT Online, which has over 1.5 million followers.
None of the official pages belonging to the news agencies promote Norland Investment.
The seven pages in question are not verified and have few followers. Their posts are also riddled with random capitalisation and odd punctuation. These are signs of fake pages.
They also ask users to contact them via WhatsApp, a tactic often used by scammers to trick unsuspecting users into giving out their personal information. Legit businesses usually link to a professional website or app.
Scammed by Norland
In 2022, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism reported that a journalist had been defrauded of N90,000 by a Facebook page named “BBC News Nigeria”. According to the report, the page was promoting “Norland Investment”.
Another social media user claimed to have been defrauded of N59,000 by Norland Investment.
Africa Check previously investigated a page impersonating BBC News and advertising the same investment scheme.
To protect yourself from investment scams, read our guide to spotting investment scams on Facebook.
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