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Claim: A website going viral on WhatsApp claims to be the portal for NIN modification.
Verdict: False. We found that the website link is different from the original NIMC website. The link posted also shows the characteristics of a phishing website.
Full Text
Recently, a message containing a website was shared on WhatsApp claiming that the Federal Government of Nigeria has urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)—an organisation saddled with the responsibility to register, correct, and issue National Identification Numbers (NIN) for citizens home and abroad—to open a Correction portal and attend to the complaints of bonafide citizens for “FREE.”
Verification
We first observed that contrary to the format of Government agencies’ websites, which typically begins with an abbreviation and ends with.gov.ng, this link ended with.govspot.com.
We clicked on the website link and observed that https://tr.ee, a URL for shortening websites, redirected us here. This new link displayed a webpage containing the logo of NIMC with the description “Modification/Correction Portal 2024. ” The user was asked to choose from a list of errors about NIN, such as date of birth correction, name correction, phone number correction, retrieval of lost slip, address correction, and others.
Meanwhile, the URL, which begins with “bet9ja” –a popular name for a Nigerian sports betting company—conflicts with the web page’s display.
This fact-checker selected a box from the list of corrections and clicked the “Proceed” button as instructed. The site redirected to another page that displayed testimonials from beneficiaries, indicating that the user request had been received. It requested that you click “Check” to determine whether you were eligible for a modification.
The website requested personal information such as Full Name, Gender, Date of Birth, Email address, Phone Number, and State. The URL was later changed to https://dffsfggdfjhffgjjhssf.blogspot.com/ with the description Apply for N25,000 cash in the browser taskbar.
After clicking ‘Proceed,’ the fact-checker was congratulated on his eligibility and asked to share the website with five groups or 15 WhatsApp friends before being directed to apply the NIN correction. This is a common instruction on phishing websites.
Checking the website on the domain lookup platform, Whois.com revealed that it is owned by MarkMonitor Inc., a domain retail platform based in the United States.
The website was registered in July 2000, last updated in June 2023, and expired on June 31, 2024.
Moreover, contrary to its website’s claims, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) does not offer free payment modification on its website or social media accounts.
Upon verifying the genuine portal of the NIMC self-service website for NIN adjustments and changes, it was observed that its domain URL contains .gov.ng, and its webpage provides requirements for each modification.
Conclusion
The purpose of using the https://tr.ee/Nimc-Portal-For-Correctioni/ URL to direct users to the scam site is for the site’s creator(s) and accomplices to appear reputable and authentic and obtain user personal information for future fraud. The website is, therefore, fake.
