The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday warned members of the public particularly youth and owners of small-scale businesses against fraudulent loan offers.
The CBN in a statement signed by Isaac Okorafor, director, corporate communications, said its attention had been drawn to fraudulent messages in the social media circles requesting unsuspecting loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to apply for loans provided by the Federal Government through an e-mail address ([email protected]) purportedly being handled by the Central Bank.
“While the CBN, indeed, has several development finance intervention programmes from which different categories of businesses have benefitted (and still benefit), the Bank DOES NOT do so through direct interaction with prospective applicants”, the statement reads.
There are clearly spelt out procedures for accessing CBN intervention funds, which are disbursed through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), such as Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs).
The regulator advised members of the public to disregard any message requesting them to send their personal details, including mobile phone numbers, to emails such as [email protected] or any other one that may be contrived. These messages are fake and anyone who enters into correspondence with them does so at his or her own risk, the bank warned.
Prospective applicants are advised to approach their respective banks or the CBN branch nearest to them for clarification on the procedure for accessing any of the CBN-related loans.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
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