30/11/2022
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29.11.2022 FEATUREDALERT: Fraudsters Impersonating Banks on Twitter — Over 100 Fake UBA Handles Found
Published 29th Nov, 2022
By Abimbola Abatta
Scammers are disguising as customer care representatives of various Nigerian banks on Twitter to defraud unsuspecting customers.
FIJ discovered that some Twitter handles impersonate the verified Twitter accounts of these financial institutions to lure Nigerians into their trap.
FROM TWITTER TO WHATSAPP
To ascertain their mode of operation, FIJ scrutinised the fraudulent Twitter handles of three Nigerian banks and found a pattern that is peculiar to all.
Whenever bank customers make complaints on Twitter and tag the verified handles of these banking institutions, the fraudsters respond with messages that direct the complainants to a WhatsApp number.
The fraudsters convey their responses in such a way that an impetuous customer would easily fall victim to their deception. However, a closer check at the graphological features of their responses would raise suspicion.
Also, some of the fake handles have between zero to over 1,000 followers, and they do not have the blue tick that signifies a verified Twitter account.
A collage of fake Twitter handles impersonating three banks
To evade a thorough examination from customers, the profile and header images of these fake Twitter pages have the banks’ logos.
An earlier story published by FIJ revealed how a fake customer care agent of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) defrauded a customer of N169,000.
The affected UBA customer had provided his personal banking information through a link the fraudster sent to him on WhatsApp.
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