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CLAIM: Grant support on Facebook claims that the World Trade Center (WTO), in partnership with Nigeria’s Federal Government (FG), is disbursing free N200,000 loans to business owners.
Verdict: False! Our investigation reveals that the post was created to facilitate phishing attempts. No reputable media organisation reported the disbursement.
Full Text
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global institution that regulates trade between nations. Recently, Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed as the Director-General(DG). This four-year term will begin in September 2025.
Amidst this development, Grant Support, a Facebook Page, wrote that the WTO is giving Nigerians N200,000. The featured image on the post was designed using the face of the new WTO DG. The text in the image also noted that this loan was being disbursed in partnership with the Federal Government.
“World Trade Organization Grant, in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Apply now, secure non-refundable grants to help you expand your small or large scale business,” the post reads.
The post features a link accompanied by an “Apply Now” call-to-action. The image also includes Nigeria’s Coat of Arms and the WTO logo.
As of Nov. 23, 2024, the post has generated over 2,800 likes, 3,100 comments, and 60 shares. Similar posts were also found on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The virality of the post and the severity of the information’s implications for Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s reputation as WTO Director-General prompted DUBAWA to verify the claim.
Verification
We clicked on the link attached to the post, which redirected us to a website called Webcraft. The website then redirected us again to a US visa sponsorship opportunity page. The page does not mention the loan application. It appears to be a phishing attempt designed to drive traffic to unrelated websites.
We then conducted a keyword search to see if any reputable news organisation reported the loan disbursement but found nothing. Instead, we saw old news reports in March 2024 by Daily Trust that the WTO initiated a $1.2 million project on Nigeria’s agricultural exports. It was supported by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to boost the country’s economy.
We also went through the news segment of the WTO official page to see if we could find a report on it, but we could not.
Our findings reveal that the post uses the image of the WTO Director-General to deceive users, as it is neither affiliated with the official WTO website nor its verified Facebook page.
Scammers deliberately included Nigeria’s Coat of Arms as the cover photo and other logos in the post to lure unsuspecting Facebook users.
Conclusion
Based on the investigation, the post is a clear phishing attempt to deceive users and drive traffic to unrelated websites. Using the WTO Director-General’s image, Nigeria’s Coat of Arms, and other official logos is a device to create false credibility.
