If you found this, then you’ve probably been scammed or is about to get scammed by a money doubling scheme advertising on Facebook as Chymall Investment Trading platform.

I was also scrolling through my Facebook feed when this advert from a Channels TV clone page caught my eye. It was an advert about a money doubling scheme where you ‘invest’ your money and within two hours get double your investments after a trade. The advert also has all these positive comments and bank alert screenshots from people who have supposedly benefited from the scheme and are encouraging others to invest quickly and not doubt its authenticity.

The whole thing was a ridiculous and cheap scam till I decided to chat up the admin and realize others might actually be falling for such a cheap scam.

Money Doubling Schemes are ridiculous that you will think that no one should still be falling for such scams in Nigeria. But this scammers are paying for Facebook adverts and are going through the trouble of setting up fake bank accounts – which is not easy to do, they must be getting victims.

Here’s HOW CHYMALL WORKS

Under the scammer’s Facebook ads, they have all these positive comments from innocent people’s Facebook profiles that they’ve cloned or stolen. The purpose of the positive comments is to convince unsuspecting victims that the scheme might be legit.

They also run the advert on a page with Channels TV logo to make it seem as if they are affiliated with a popular brand.

The advert link will take you to the scammer’s WhatsApp business account where they already have this prewritten note for each potential victim.
Check this messages below, if you got something similar even from a different platform, then you are a potential victim of scam and you should run away.

It’s a platform that gives you double of your initial pledged investment within 2hours Trading and you can only invest once in a month

It’s a worldwide government program to help citizens and it’s working worldwide

I have registered 120 people today and they have all received their payments

Is very real and secure it won’t take more than 2hours for you to be credited

!!100% legit!!
!!No referral!!
No one has ever invested with us and regret it, so anybody that want to invest with us now won’t be exempted.

First you select the package you want to start with and you will be registered, after your registration, an account will be sent to you to make your payment into then within 2 hours of your investment trading your Account will be credited with double of the amount you invested

CHYMALL PACKAGES AND ROI

🔰Standard Package: N20,000 (N40,000)
🔰Premium Package: N30,000 (N60,000)
🔰 Silver Package: N40,000 (N80,000)
🔰Platinum Package: N50,000 (N100,000)
🔰Gold Package: N100,000 (N200,000)
🔰Topaz Package: N200,000 (N400,000)
🔰Diamond Package: N300,000 (N600,000)
🔰Ruby Package: N500,000 (N1,000,000)

How Much Do You Want To Invest So I Can Get You Registered Immediately👆👆

MAKE YOUR PAYMENT NOW INTO THE TRADING ACCOUNT AND SEND ME YOUR PROOF OF PAYMENT SO YOUR TRADING CAN START IMMEDIATELY👇👇

ACCT NAME: CHYMALL TRADING

ACCT NUMBER: 9160147605

BANK NAME: PALMPAY LIMITED

The only reason an investment sounds way too good to be true, is because it is way too good to be true. Double your investments or 100% in 2 hours? That is a cheap scam that if you put your money in such a scheme, you deserve to get scammed.

There are other legit investment opportunities in Nigeria that you can put your money into, legit investments don’t offer 100% profit in two hours. Infact, only scammers will guarantee you a return on any investment, because in the real world, there is always a risk in making money and making legit money takes time.

Why does Facebook allow such scammers to advertise on their platform?

While you may use Facebook for free, upload your pictures and chat with friends, the company is actually a big marketing business. Facebook makes its money from running ads worldwide.

The company AI to process adverts without much human interaction. As long as you are paying. Anyone can advertise anything on Facebook and it might be a while before that thing is removed even if it is not authentic.

So, coming across an advert on Facebook does not mean that the company has verified the advertisers and confirmed that they are not scammers. These scammers know that most people kinda trust the adverts they see on big platforms like Facebook, that’s why they are spending a little out of their loot to advertise their.

The post Chymall Investment Trading: Facebook Money Doubling Scheme appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

All these three loan apps operate their scam with the same method as they are owned and operated by the same individuals.

Most of the loan apps in Nigeria are unregulated by the government. Individuals just buy a loan software on the internet and use it to run their operations. Because they are unregulated, they often resort to crude methods to recover their loans like threatening to defame their customers to their friends and families.

As unprofessional and crude as these loan sharks are, they at the very least do provide loans for emergencies, albeit at extortionate interest. Now there’s a proliferation of scammers in Nigeria who design loan apps with the exclusive intension of stealing from the public.

Here’s how the scam works

So you come across this loan app online that is promising to give a a loan. They are offering up to ₦200,000 in collateral free loans but the interest is a little bit high, which is the case with most loan sharks, so you go ahead to provide all your details anyways.

The registration process is smooth, but in the end, you are asked to bind your ATM card to your account as a means of repayment before you get the loan. This is the standard practice by most legit loan apps and even loan sharks, most charge a token not more than 50 naira. These three apps charge binding amounts starting from 350 naira, and they might encourage you to pay multiple times promising that would speed up your loan disbursement.

That is the scam, these three loan apps – Phoenix Credit, Speedy loan, and Swift Loan are all scam operations, they don’t give any loans, they will just collect the card binding charges and put your application in pending review or ask you to reapply again and repay the charges. It doesn’t stop their, these apps also encourage their victims to write positive reviews about them on play store and give them 5 star reviews so they can seem legit to other victims.

Swift Loan app has over 10k downloads so far on the play store. Most of it victims are giving the app 5 star reviews thinking that would fast track their loan disbursement. Not knowing that they have been scammed.

Phoenix Credit Loan app on its part also has about 10k downloads. “Have applied for the loan but it was pending since and the app was referred to me by a friend that it’s a very great loan very good and low interest”, wrote one 5 star reviewer, most likely another scam victim tricked into giving 5 stars.

The last of the three scam is Speedy loan – Instant loans. One user wrote “I try applying for a loan from you people there was no approval and yet I was debited #380 naira for the service fee or what, this happened twice why. I even send a mail to you people(speedy loan) and yet no response till now, you people(speedy loan) are scam!!!”

How to detect a fake loan app

• Loan apps asking for KYC information including your BVN and asking you to bind your ATM card to your account is normal, but when an app is asking you to make upfront payments or pay for processing fee, such an app is most likely a scam.
• Always read other customer’s review on play store or read reviews on websites like this before downloading any loan app.
• If an app does not have a contact phone number, or the phone number is not functional, that is a redflag.
• Pay attention to fake reviews on Google play store, most of this apps pay spammers to write reviews for them. Most of the reviews will be from foreign accounts and will mostly give the app a five star without any reasonable comment.
• Don’t part with money for what ever reason before getting your loan.
• there are a lots of loan sharks operating without regulation in Nigeria, know that Playstore does not rigorously verify this apps, it is up to you to do your research before doing business with them.
• When providing your ATM card details as a means of repayment, make sure you are entering your details in a reputable payment gateway like Flutterwave or Paystack. Pay attention to the page URL before entering your card details.

The post BEWARE: Phoenix Credit, Speedy loan and Swift Loan are a scam appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

There’s a new lending platform advertising its services on Instagram. LendMeNow is an ATM card phishing scam that should be avoided.

Plenty of online loan apps already operate in Nigeria without regulation. Most of them do give loans and charge extortionate interest. Then they coerce their victims by threatening to defame them to their friends and family.

Loan sharks are bad enough, but at least they still give some money in times of emergency. This particular platform only get their victims to provide their ATM card details so they can wipe their victims bank account.

How the scam works

So you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed, then you see the sponsored ad of this company promising to give you a loan of up to 1 million naira. When you click on the link to apply, you will be asked to provide your details just like other loan apps. Details including your BVN, address and work details. Then you will be asked to provide your ATM card details as a means of repayment.

Note that binding your ATM card to your account is standard practice for most loan apps, but how they do it is they usually ask you to pay a small amount via a third party payment portal like Flutterwave or Paystack.

Flutterwave, Paystack are legit payment processing gateways that can be trusted with your ATM card details. But in the case of Lend me know, they don’t send you to one of these payment processing gateways, they give you a form to input your details on their website. Ones you provide your ATM card details and password, they will use that information to wipe your bank account clean.

Always pay attention to the URL of the page you’re imputing your card details in on the internet because what these scammers do is to design a page similar to that of Flutterwave and even use Flutterwave’s logo on it to trick their victims.

Talking any loan online is already dangerous and you should try as much as possible to avoid it. If you have to, pay attention to details and don’t just put your card details anywhere online to avoid getting cleaned out by scammers.

How to detect a fake loan app

• Loan apps asking for KYC information including your BVN and asking you to bind your ATM card to your account is normal, but when an app is asking you to make upfront payments or pay for processing fee, such an app is most likely a scam.
• Always read other customer’s review on play store or read reviews on websites like this before downloading any loan app.
• If an app does not have a contact phone number, or the phone number is not functional, that is a redflag.
• Pay attention to fake reviews on Google play store, most of this apps pay spammers to write reviews for them. Most of the reviews will be from foreign accounts and will mostly give the app a five star without any reasonable comment.
• Don’t part with money for what ever reason before getting your loan.
• there are a lots of loan sharks operating without regulation in Nigeria, know that Playstore does not rigorously verify this apps, it is up to you to do your research before doing business with them.
• When providing your ATM card details as a means of repayment, make sure you are entering your details in a reputable payment gateway like Flutterwave or Paystack. Pay attention to the page URL before entering your card details.

The post BEWARE: LendMeNow loan advertising on Instagram is a scam appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

Borrowing from one loan shark to pay another is the new addiction of most Nigerians. Due to the harsh economic situation in the country, most Nigerians now take online loans not necessarily for business, but just to survive.

Loan sharks are unregistered and unregulated financial service providers that usually give short term loans to anyone in need of quick money. They charge extortionist interest and resort to character defamation to recover their loans plus interest.

These loansharks have caused unimaginable grief and distress to borrowers who were unable to repay their loans, they usually resort to sending embarrassing messages to family and friends. If you’re in the neverending circle of borrowing from one loan app to pay another just to avoid the embarrassment, here are practical steps you can take to stop yourself from taking further loans.

Blacklist yourself from loan apps

If you’re in a neverending circle of borrowing, the first thing you’ll want to do is to blacklist yourself and take away your ability to access any loan shark. To do this, simply take a loan from any of them, then immediately payback the principal sum you were borrowed without the interest.

This will essentially make you unqualified to get any loan again in the future because no matter how unsophisticated these loan apps might look, they still run background checks on their potential borrowers. They do this through your Biometric Verification Number BVN and once your BVN showed that you have outstanding loans to settle, it will be difficult for you to get further loans. We recommend you take such a loan from Fairmoney, Branch, Carbon or any other loan app that doesn’t send threatening messages to their customers.

Join a support group

Joining a support group and reading about the experiences of other people will motivate you to stop patronizing loansharks. Make no mistake, people have lost jobs and contracts, families have been shattered all due to the activities of these loansharks. If you’re able to read the stories of other people and how they were able to dig themselves out of debts, maybe you can do it too.

Join this Facebook group where people share their terrible experience with most of the loan apps that operate in Nigeria.

Plan your finances well

The neverending circle of borrowing from one loanshark to pay another usually start with poor financial planning. If you can take control of your finances, then you might have no need to be borrowing in the first place.

Cutout unnecessary spending, have a monthly budget immediately you receive your salary and try to stick to it, save and invest as much as you can, and most importantly, improve your financial literacy by reading blogs like this and watching videos that teach financial literacy.

How do I stop loan apps from calling my contacts?

Technically, you can’t. You give them permission to your phone book immediately after you installed their app on your phone. The only work around is to have fake contacts on your phone at the point of download and installation. You can delete all your family and friends numbers from your phone and replace it with random numbers.

Some have suggested that you go to settings in your android phone, click on app & notifications. Scroll down to app permission and deny them access to your contacts, sms, photo gallery and storages on your phone, they won’t be able to reach out to your contacts anymore or post your pictures.

But this is unlikely to work as they would have copied your contacts once you give them permission after installation. The picture they send their defamatory messages with is usually they selfie they ask you to take during registration.

Can a loan app blacklist my BVN?

Yes, loan apps can blacklist your BVN when you default on your loan or didn’t payback your loan on time. They usually share the information with First Nigeria Credit Bureau or Mwanga – a debt recovery contractor thereby significantly reducing your chance to get a loan in the future unless if cleared. A blacklisted BVN can also affect your chances of getting a job or renting a property if your employer conducts a background check on you.

Can you be arrested or sent to jail for not repaying a loan in Nigeria?

No, loan defaulters will not be arrested or sent to jail in Nigeria. It is the usual tactics of loan apps to threaten their defaulting customers with arrest or jail time. But these apps themselves are mostly illegal that operate without license or respect for the rule of law. For example, CBN policy mandates that the minimum tenure for a short term loan should be at least 60 days, but most loan app in Nigeria offer loans for between a week, two weeks and maximum 30 days. The worse they can do is to blacklist your BVN with the consequences highlighted above but you will not go to prison for not repaying a loan app in Nigeria.

In conclusion, loan sharks are bad and can leave you in neverending circle of debt. You can take practical steps from stopping the circle by blacklisting yourself and taking away your ability to access further loans, joining a support group and improving your financial literacy to help manage your finances.

The post How to stop borrowing from loan apps appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

There is a proliferation of scam loan apps that target unsuspecting borrowers on Google play store. These apps take advantage of the economic situation in Nigeria – most people turn loan apps to meet their immediate financial needs. Unfortunately, scammers are now feeding fat on the little money most of these borrowers have, one of the apps they use in perpetrating such scam is called CashClub loan app on Google play store.

CashClub advertises itself as a secure and instant online loan app, and so far has over 100k downloads.

It says if you you downloan the APP and register an account, you can get a loan between NGN 20,000~~NGN 300,000.

The app further gives details of it’s loan as follows:

Loan Amount: ₦20,000 ~ ₦300,000
Loan Term: the shortest is 91 days, the longest is 365 days
Loan interest: It depends on the customer’s risk profile and loan period. The interest rate is from 12% to 25% per annum.
Service charge: 0%.

For example:
If you apply for a loan of ₦30,000, the term is 180 days and the annual interest rate is 15%.
So the daily interest rate=15%/365=0.041%, the interest for 180 days =₦30,000×15%/365×180= ₦2,214, the totally repayment=₦30,000+₦2,214= ₦32,214.f you choose a 12-month loan and borrow NGN 20,000, Naira Hub charges an interest rate of 2.08% per month. And the interest rate is 25%, we would charge you GNN 5,000 as interest of 12-month repayment period. Total amount of repayment is NGN 25,000.

These claims are all untrue, CashClub does not give loans to customers, rather they collect your details and refer you to other loan companies by advertising them to you. The app is a waste of time according to what customers who have downloaded report on play store reviews.

Pay attention, here is how the scam works; when you download the app you will be prompted to provide your KYC details like every other loan app, then you will be asked to bind your ATM card to your account as a means of repayment. The app will then make you a loan offer that is too good to be true but also ask you to pay a loan disbursement fee.

This is the part where you get scammed, the disbursement fee is usually a small amount compared to the loan you have been approved for – say pay a fee of 4k to get 100k loan. Ones you make the payment the app will start to malfunction and will not take you any further instead it will redirect you to the advert of other loan apps.

Is CashClub loan app legit?

No, CashClub app is a scam, it doesn’t give loans to customers, the app has all the known features of a scam app. The app asks you to make upfront and refer you to other money lenders.

Most of the reviews of the app on Google play store are fake, it is not from genuine users which is why most of it is 5 stars. The address on the app is also fake, and it has no functional customer service contact.

How to detect a fake loan app

Note that loan apps in Nigeria operate unregulated, they are mostly unlicensed by the CBN and Google play store does not carry out verification before allowing them on it’s platform, you will most likely come across this app because those behind it run paid advertisements on the app store. So you are responsible for your own security when you download and use them. You can stay safe by looking out for the following red flags:

• Loan apps asking for KYC information including your BVN and asking you to bind your ATM card to your account is normal, but when an app is asking you to make upfront payments or pay a processing fee, such an app is most likely a scam.
• Always read other customer’s review on play store or read reviews on websites like this before downloading any loan app.
• If an app does not have a contact phone number, or the phone number is not functional, that is a redflag.
• Pay attention to fake reviews on Google playstore, most of this apps pay spammers to write reviews for them. Most of the reviews will be from foreign accounts and will mostly give the app a five star without any reasonable comment.
• Dont part with money for what ever reason before getting your loan.
• It cannot be overstated that the Nigerian government does not regulate online loan apps. You are entirely responsible for your own safety when you use them.

The post CashClub Loan App Review: This app is not legit appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

But with the proliferation of these loan apps, it has created an avenue for fraudsters to prey on unsuspecting borrowers. One of such apps they use is called Cashloan app on Google play store.

Cashloan app describes itself as a quick online loan app, and so far has over 10k downloads.

It says if you you downloan the APP and register an account, you can get a loan between NGN 5,000~~NGN 500,000.

The app further gives details of it’s loan as follows:

Loan Amount: ₦20,000 ~ ₦300,000
Loan Term: the shortest is 91 days, the longest is 365 days
Loan interest: It depends on the customer’s risk profile and loan period. The interest rate is from 12% to 25% per annum.
Service charge: 0%.

For example:
If you apply for a loan of ₦30,000, the term is 180 days and the annual interest rate is 15%.
So the daily interest rate=15%/365=0.041%, the interest for 180 days =₦30,000×15%/365×180= ₦2,214, the totally repayment=₦30,000+₦2,214= ₦32,214.f you choose a 12-month loan and borrow NGN 20,000, cashloan charges an interest rate of 2.08% per month. And the interest rate is 25%, we would charge you N5,000 as interest of 12-month repayment period. Total amount of repayment is NGN 25,000.

These claims are untrue. The app collects your details like other apps but makes you a loan offer that is too good to be true and then ask you to make a deposit of small amount like N3,000 to get N100,000 loan. ones you get tempted and make the payment, you have been scammed!

Here is how the scam works; when you download the app you will be prompted to provide your KYC details like every other loan app, then you will be asked to bind your ATM card to your account as a means of repayment. The app will then make you a loan offer that is too good to be true but asked to make an upfront part payment of your loan.

This is the scam Cashloan does, ones you make your upfront payment the app will start to malfunction and will not take you any further instead it will redirect you to the advert of other loan apps.

Is Cashloan legit?

No, Cashloan is a scam app that doesn’t give loans to customers, the app has all the known features of a scam app. The app asks you to make upfront and refer you to other money lenders.

Read what other users are saying about this app, it is mostly complains from people who have lost money to the scam app and other potential victims whose app malfunctioned before they make their payments. The address on the app is also fake, and no functional developer contact on the app.

How to detect a fake loan app

Note that loan apps in Nigeria operate unregulated, they are mostly unlicensed by the CBN and Google play store is merely a library for apps, it does not carry out verification before allowing them on it’s platform. So you are responsible for your own security when you download and use them. You can stay safe by looking out for the following red flags:

1. Loan apps asking for KYC information including your BVN and asking you to bind your ATM card to your account is normal, but when an app is asking you to make upfront payments or pay for processing fee, such an app is most likely a scam.
2. Always read other customer’s review on play store or read reviews on websites like this before downloading any loan app.
3. If an app does not have a contact phone number, or the phone number is not functional, that is a red-flag.
4. Pay attention to fake reviews on Google playstore, most of this apps pay spammers to write reviews for them. Most of the reviews will be from foreign accounts and will mostly give the app a five star without any reasonable comment.
5. Dont part with money for what ever reason before getting your loan.
6. The online loan industry in Nigeria is highly dysfunctional, read this investigative report before you take any online loan.

The post CashLoan App Review: This app is a scam appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.