By Dauda Musbau
Claim
United Nations Refugee Agency is giving out over N366,000 as a ‘Ramadan Subsidy.’
Verdict
False
Full Text
A link has been circulating on multiple social media platforms with a claim that the United Nations Refugee Agency is giving out over N366,000 as a ‘Ramadan Subsidy’.
The link which has been shared several times across WhatsApp groups requires the unsuspecting users to complete a 4-step procedure before having access to the said amount, FactCheckAfrica can confirm.
The first step asks one if he knows UNHCR; the second is the provision of one’s age, the third requires one to provide how he thinks about UNHCR by listing 4 options, and the last stage asks the user about his gender.
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict and persecution.
With the high cost of living in Nigeria, scammers are using this to trap unsuspecting individuals into their net to get them. It is due to this skepticism that FactCheckAfrica opts to verify the authenticity of this website.
Verification
Findings by FactCheckAfrica shows that the claim is FALSE!
We combed through the United Nations Refugee Agency’s official social media accounts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to see if the agency had shared similar information before but could not find anything related to it.
This researcher then subjected the link provided by this website to verification on WhoIs, a tool that checks the authenticity of websites, the result revealed that the website was registered on March 13, 2024, and will expire on March 13, 2025. This shows that the website is a phishing site with a one-year lifespan.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) defines phishing as a method where criminals use deceptive emails, texts, or calls to deceive victims, often directing them to websites aimed at downloading viruses or stealing personal information, including bank details.
To show the differences, this researcher also verified the link to the original website of the United Nations Refugee Agency on WhoIs. The result shows that the website was registered on May 04, 1997, and will expire on May 05, 2025.
Conclusion
The claim that the United Nations Refugee Agency is giving out over N366,000 as a ‘Ramadan Subsidy’ is False. Findings revealed that the website is using a phishing method to promote and gather information about SM users.
Spammers and scammers use the website’s information to carry out mischievous deeds. Thus, users should beware of the hoax website.
