A disturbing trend has emerged on Facebook, where scammers are using the images of well-known Nigerians to attract users to dubious financial offers. These posts, often promoted with photos of prominent figures, aim to lure unsuspecting users into trading platforms by presenting false promises of wealth.
Among those whose images have been exploited is former First Lady, Aisha Buhari. One Facebook page, Dann Films, used her image with a misleading caption, 'We say goodbye to Aisha Buhari, the saddest day for Nigeria,' implying her death. The page, created in 2018, has been linked to multiple administrators under the name 'Danny Ting Kts.'
In their attempt to deceive users, the page cloned the branding of the Nigerian Newspaper 'Vanguard', posting a fabricated headline that read, 'Aisha Buhari did not know that the microphone was on, and we are saying goodbye to her forever.' This tactic has sparked concerns over how scammers are exploiting the identities of Nigerian public figures to manipulate social media users.
However, findings showed that Vanguard did not publish such information. When the post was clicked, it directed to a website with a different headline claiming, 'Central Bank of Nigeria sues Aisha Buhari over statements she made on live television', using Aisha's picture and falsely attributing it to The PUNCH Newspaper.
The post added, 'Live on air, Aisha Buhari regretted revealing the truth. But it was already too late,' but the national newspaper has no such report on its website.
Part of the misleading information claimed, 'Scandal erupted during a live broadcast, when Aisha Buhari accidentally revealed her secret on the program.' However, the show was interrupted by a call from the Bank of Nigeria demanding the program be stopped immediately.
Promoting a platform named Spectrax, the scam claimed that $250 could turn into millions in just 12 to 15 weeks, asserting it was built on self-learning artificial intelligence that trades cryptocurrencies independently. Users are led to believe that they can get rich quick without any effort.
Technology expert Akinwale Balogun expressed concerns about the impact of such deceptive pages, urging Facebook to take action against them, stating, 'The actions of those pages are not only misleading but harmful to users and Facebook itself.'