Europe is home to more than 260,000 Nigerians, many of whom need safe and efficient ways of sending money to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, bank and financial scams are not rare and many fall victim to fraud in Nigeria. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of knowledge about how to avoid a scam and to choose a secure money transfer provider. In this article we talk about some latest scamming formats in Nigeria and Europe and the steps to avoid them, and review what makes a legitimate app for sending money to Nigeria.
Visa scams
The most popular fraud formats, in Nigeria and across the globe, usually involve getting access to victims’ personal information and, consequently, bank accounts and/or tricking them into paying money for fake offers; in many cases, it is both. The scams usually involve making international money transfers to Nigeria or other countries where scammers can get the money conveniently. Read on to learn about some of the most common scams related to sending money to Nigeria, starting with visa scams.
For most Nigerians, including those living abroad, securing a proper visa from a Western country is on the top of their wish list which makes them vulnerable to a potential bank scam. Scammers take advantage of this by posing as government officials responsible for processing a visa application. For this kind of fraud in Nigeria they usually send mass emails claiming that the recipient has been granted a visa but needs to pay some ‘fees’ first sending an international money transfer to Nigeria or another convenient country. Also, the payment needs to be done quickly to secure the visa. Their preferred ways of sending money to Nigeria or elsewhere is through cash remittance services, personal bank transfers, virtual currencies, etc.
If you're only planning to move to Europe, read how to get there without having a job offer yet.
Employment scams
Most Nigerians would love to secure a decent job, whether at home or abroad. Unsurprisingly, some of the latest scamming formats in Nigeria relate to employment. Scammers usually contact people by phone, text messages, or email with unrealistically generous job offers and provide genuinely looking ‘employment documents’ from major institutions.
However, to get the job one must first pay a fee, for instance, to run a security check. Scammers then insist on the victim’s sending money to Nigeria usually as a direct wire transfer or in a virtual currency such as bitcoin, which makes tracing the bank scam difficult. Eventually, victims of this fraud in Nigeria are left with no new job and no money.
A variation of this are work-from-home financial scams which might often be a cover-up for money-laundering or pyramid schemes. For example, one can be offered a reward for forwarding international money transfers to Nigeria or elsewhere through their bank account, recruiting other people for a ‘business opportunity’, or ‘testing’ services and apps for sending money to Nigeria. This latest scamming format in Nigeria allows scammers to get access to the victim’s bank account or get them involved in illegal activities or, most often, both.
Check the companies that you're applying to. Once you secure an official job and get your first salary, send some money to Nigeria with fast and safe Profee transfers.
School admission scams
This type of fraud in Nigeria exploits the hopes of recent graduates and their parents of getting into a university. Scammers usually pretend to have connections within such an institution and promise help with admission in exchange for a fee. Grander financial scams here include cloning the real schools’ websites and social media or even create those for non-existing institutions. People are asked to pay various fees in advance for a fake ‘admission’. Payments would involve sending money to Nigeria to non-official accounts or even delivering cash to a random location.
Another type of scams that we covered in another article are holidays scams. Be careful when planning your trips.
Online dating scams
Many Nigerians who have moved abroad are looking for a relationship with another Nigerian online. But signing up even with a well-known platform does not guarantee a genuine match. What at first looks like a picture-perfect connection can end up being a financial scam where the victim is led to believe that their sweetheart urgently needs money for a seemingly valid reason like medical treatment or travel. The reasons keep appearing while the victim continues sending money to Nigeria. With the first sign of suspicion, the ‘match’ disappears along with the money.
Money transfer scams
There are dozens of ways of sending money to Nigeria. More traditional ones like bank transfers are known to be secure but notoriously slow and expensive. Among people looking for more efficient solutions for international money transfers to Nigeria, online remittance services are growing in popularity, which, of course, has attracted scammers’ attention.
As mentioned earlier, in some cases scammers might use such services for money laundering. Other instances include getting access to the user’s data, say, when acting as a customer support representative. There are also services and apps for sending money to Nigeria that are either fakes or clones of legitimate providers; they get access to vulnerable data by means of phishing websites and apps.
So, how to avoid a scam when sending money to Nigeria?
- Treat unsolicited offers carefully, even if they seem exciting and legitimate and especially if they are time limited.
- Never disclose personal information such as your ID number, bank details, or security codes to anyone.
- Do your research: check for information, read the fine print, browse the reviews.
- Choose your provider carefully.
This last point is especially important. Let us take Profee, an online remittance service, as a case study. A proper provider such as Profee must:
Be legitimate
All the information about the company, its licenses, certifications, and activities must be public and easily accessed from its website. Profee provides all legal information both on its website and in the app.
Be secure
A remittance provider must follow a set of strict rules and regulations, both financial and industry. Profee holds a European EMI (Electronic Money Institution) licence and is supervised by EU financial regulators. It regularly updates its PCI DSS certification and employs mandatory use of 3DS code for card payments, advanced data encryption, and authorisation technology. All these ensure secure money transfers to Nigeria.
Have proper customer support
There should be 24/7 service easily available through several channels (phone, chat, email), as is the case with Profee which prioritises its customers’ security.
Be reliable and trusted
Before signing up with a provider, one should research it online, for example, on Trustpilot, a popular review platform. Profee has over 4,500 reviews there and holds the highest ‘Excellent’ rating.
In addition to being a highly secure app for sending money to Nigeria, Profee also offers its customers the most favourable naira exchange rates on the market, instant delivery of money, and a lucrative referral programme. Visit our website or get the app from the App Store or Google Play to unlock all the benefits of the service and always send your money safely.
