Claim: A Facebook post claims NCC is issuing free data and airtime bonus to customers for linking their NIN to their SIM cards.
FALSE. Both the claim that NCC is issuing free data and airtime is false and the page posing as NCC to make this claim is a fake page.
Full Text
A Facebook post shared on December 23, 2020, claims the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has started issuing free data of 25GB and N10,000 worth of airtime to customers who have linked their National Identification Number (NIN) with their SIM cards.
This message described this as the NIN vs SIM promo. The message also noted that this bonus is applicable to all Telecommunications companies in Nigeria.
“This is to notify the general public that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has started issuing Free Data and Airtime bonus to customers who have linked their NIN with their SIM cards.
This bonus is applicable to all Telecommunications companies in Nigeria, including MTN, GLO, ETISALAT, AND AIRTEL.”
Excerpt of the Facebook message
The message also provided steps and a link to check if you are qualified or not and a phone number (0803001001) for viewers to call for more information.
According to the message, this promo ends four weeks after the release of the information that is January 20, 2021.
Verification
Dubawa first of all followed the link provided in the Facebook post which led to a page called injustshare.com.ng.
Going through the page and the instruction laid out, the first step was to click on a link where you are to carry out step two, which is to add your Facebook account so it can be linked. After this, step three says you have to recharge N100 within 24 hours of linking your Facebook account before you get your free airtime and data.
However, clicking on the link in step one led to a page flagged dangerous and deceptive.
Dubawa also called the number made available in the facebook message but was unable to reach the number.
Dubawa went further to study the Facebook page that claims to be NCC and noticed that even though this page has been in existence and sharing posts since 2017, its content has nothing related to the official activities of the commission. Its contents are more of motivational stories and quotes, links to WhatsApp groups to join to make money and crypto currency related information.
It also lacks basic information like the link to the commission’s site, active hours, it’s office address, check ins, and direction like the official NCC Facebook page and Twitter page has.
The link provided as the commission’s site link leads to the same Ijustshareit.net page.
This said NCC page also has just 150 followers unlike the official page with over 190,000 followers.
Dubawa also reached out to NCC on Twitter and on its website to get a reaction to this claim but so far, there have been no response.
Conclusion
The claim by the Facebook page claiming to be NCC is false and misleading as Dubawa’s analysis of the page shows it is not related to the NCC and the link contained in the message is a deceptive site.
