A recent post circulating on WhatsApp has claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved free online company registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission for all self-employed and business owners.
The post retrieved from a WhatsApp group on October 26, 2023 claims that registration comes with various benefits, including free international trade, the ability to transact overseas, and a cash reward of ₦50,000, among others. it urged people to register via a link provided.
On the 19 October, 2020 President Muhammed Buhari now “former” give the approval for 250,000 Medium Small and Micro Entrepreneurs to register their Business name free of charge with CAC which has elapsed already and no freebies attached.
THE CLAIM
Federal Government is offering free company registration and gives registrants N50,000
THE FINDINGS
Findings shows that the claim is FALSE.
In an independent investigation carried out by the FACTCHECK247 team, it was observed that the website linked to the claim showed phishing characteristics.
A technical writer and editor, Alexander S. Gillis, described Phishing as a social engineering and cybersecurity attack where the attacker impersonates someone else via email or other electronic communication methods, including social networks and short message service (SMS) text messages, to reveal sensitive information.
A portal being shared on social media offers only three application stages and lacks a clear timeline for applicants.
The information displayed on the portal reads:
- Share it with 5 groups or 15 friends on WhasApp (Click on the “SHARE” icon below).
- You will be redirected automatically to our “DOWNLOAD PAGE” page after the GREEN verification bar is filled.
- Download your certificate and save stress.
FACTCHECK247 observed the grammatical error on the suspicious link. instead of Strictly, the page contain Strcitly.
Also observed that the link circulating on WhatsApp has a different URL from the official website of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is cac.gov.ng and the website link for company registration activities is http://pre.cac.gov.ng/home
The website in question employs tactics used by fraudulent entities which compels individuals to share it with either 5 groups or 15 people on WhatsApp before accessing their certificates.
To verify the links, I utilised EASYDMARC, a link verification tool, which tagged the link as ‘suspicious’.
Further verification of the link, https://slnkz.com/CAC-REG2023, was conducted using e.Veritas, a web link verification tool, which also tagged the link as suspicious
In addition, the corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) the body responsible for the registration of companies in Nigeria said the claim via their Official X page described the claim as “Untrue”
THE VERDICT:
The claim that the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the registration of company online for free with the benefit of ₦50,000 cash, among other benefits, is FALSE. The claim has the characteristics of phishing scam and CAC has also noted that its “Untrue”
