The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday warned loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to beware of fraudulent loan offers purportedly by the federal government.

The CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, said in a statement that the masterminds of the fraud ask their potential victims to apply for loans provided by the federal government through an e-mail address.

The CBN statement reads:

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to fraudulent messages in the social media circles requesting unsuspecting loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to apply for loans provided by the Federal Government through an e-mail address (empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com) purportedly being handled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“While the CBN, indeed, has several development finance intervention programmes from which different categories of businesses have benefitted (and still benefit), the Bank DOES NOT do so through direct interaction with prospective applicants.

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“For the avoidance of doubt, there are clearly spelt out procedures for accessing CBN intervention funds, which are disbursed through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), such as Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs).

“Members of the public, particularly youth and owners of small-scale businesses are therefore advised to disregard any message requesting them to send their personal details, including mobile phone numbers, to emails such as empowermentcbnloan@gmail.com or any other one that may be contrived. These messages are fake and anyone who enters into correspondence with them does so at his or her own risk.

“Prospective applicants are advised to approach their respective banks or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) branch nearest to them for clarification on the procedure for accessing any of the CBN-related loans.”