Barely 48 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria launched its digital currency called the eNaira, the regulator has warned the public of fake social media handles for the currency.
In a statement issued Wednesday by its spokesman, Osita Nwanisobi, the Director, Corporate Communications, CBN said its attention had been drawn to criminal and illegal activities of some individuals and a fraudulent Twitter handle, @enaira_cbdc purported to belong to the Bank.
According to the statement, the impostor handle and fraudulent persons have been posting messages related to the eNaira with the intent of wooing unsuspecting Nigerians with claims that the CBN, “among other falsities, is disbursing the sum of 50 Billion eNaira currency”.
The statement warned that the impostors are bent on defrauding innocent and unsuspecting members of the public through the links attached to their messages for application to obtain eNaira wallets and become beneficiaries of the said 50 billion eNaira currency.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Central of Nigeria (CBN) is not the owner of that Twitter handle (@enaira_cbdc) and indeed suspended its presence on Twitter following the Federal Government’s Ban. In effect, the Bank is not disbursing eNaira currency to citizens.
“To this end, members of the public are hereby warned to be wary of fraudsters who have resolved to take advantage of unsuspecting Nigerians,” it said.
