IN SHORT: A Facebook account impersonating TVC News is encouraging users to trust the “Dangote investment” platform with their money. But be warned, this is a scam.
The Facebook account TVC News Nigeria is promoting a platform called “Dangote investment”.
The account’s profile photo features the name and logo of Dangote Group, a company founded by Aliko Dangote. He is a well-known Nigerian businessperson, philanthropist and Africa's richest billionaire.
In a post, dated 24 July 2023, the account says: “DANGOTE INVESTMENT PLATFORM IS AN ONLINE TRADING PLATFORM THAT GIVES DOUBLE OF WHAT YOU INVESTED WITHIN 1HOUR AND 30MINUTES.”
The text is accompanied by a video of former Nigerian lawmaker Dino Melaye, calling on viewers to invest in the so-called Dangote investment platform.
The post includes a WhatsApp link where interested users can send messages.
We found similar posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Africa Check has exposed several Facebook accounts falsely claiming to offer investment opportunities to Nigerians.
But is the investment platform and the page TVC News Nigeria legit? We checked.
TVC News impersonation
TVC News is a Nigerian broadcast station based in Lagos. The official Facebook page for the station is Tvcnewsng. It has a blue tick, meaning it’s verified by Meta, the company which owns Facebook.
The page in question is named TVC News Nigeria. These names are very similar in an attempt to mislead Facebook users.
The poorly written post is also a clue that the page is a scam. TVC News employs professional journalists and editors and one would expect all posts to be checked for errors before being published.
The suspicious page has only 48 followers, while the official TVC page has over 345,000. The video in the post in question has only been viewed 160 times, a relatively low number. These are further red flags.
Dangote businesses
Dangote Group manufactures different products, including cements, sugars and salts. In May, the company launched a refinery to boost the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. But Africa Check found no media reports of Dangote ever launching an investment platform.
The group previously distanced itself from social media posts offering grants to Nigerians under the name “Dangote Empowerment”.
In a 2021 tweet, the company said: “Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent scheme circulating on WhatsApp and social media titled 2021 Dangote Empowerment purporting to be sanctioned by the Aliko Dangote Foundation. This initiative is a scam!”
All signs point to these posts in the name “Dangote investment” also being scams.
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.
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment