IN SHORT: A Facebook page is offering loans in the name of PalmPay, a popular financial services mobile app. But the company’s representative says it does not offer loans through Facebook.
“If you are interested in taking a loan message me now our lowest loan offer is #20,000 thousand naira and our highest loan offer is #300,000,00 apply for a monthly business loan now,” reads a post by the Facebook page Palm Pay (PalmPay Agent).
The 12 September 2023 post has attracted over 60 comments, mostly from users interested in the loan offers.
The account uses the name and logo of PalmPay, a mobile money operator.
PalmPay launched in Nigeria and Ghana in 2019 and says it has provided millions of customers with digital payments.
The account has made similar offers and congratulated supposed loan recipients here, here, here, here and here.
But is the page and its loan offers genuine? We checked.
Fake Facebook account
There are some obvious signs that show the account is not legit. The first one is the spelling of the company’s name. The name is usually written as one word, PalmPay, not “Palm Pay”.
The account also suggests that it is run by a “PalmPay Agent”. This is suspicious because a legit business would usually have one Facebook account and not multiple ones run by its agents.
We also found it suspicious that the account in question has just over 4,000 followers, whereas on its website the company says it has assisted over five million customers.
PalmPay’s website also directs users to its social media pages, including Facebook. Its official Facebook account is PalmPay Nigeria, which has over 860,000 followers, much higher than the number on the suspicious account. The page is also verified by Meta, unlike the bogus one.
The official page was created in 2018 while the suspicious account was only created on 4 September 2023. A new Facebook account claiming to belong to a years-old company should raise suspicion, as a reputable business usually creates social media accounts as soon as it launches.
The account in question asks interested users to reach out to the cell number provided. This could see users disclose their personal or banking information, which could lead to identity theft and fraud.
How to access PalmPay loans
Responding to a customer on X (formerly Twitter), PalmPay said its loans could be accessed via the mobile app.
Africa Check spoke to a representative of PalmPay, who said: “Be informed that we do not have agents that give loans, all flexible services are provided and monitored on our app.” This means users can apply for a loan on the app without the help of agents.
The Facebook account or “agent” claiming to offer loans using PalmPay’s name is fake and might be out to scam you.
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