Fact Check
FACT-CHECK: Did TETFUND approve 30,000 Naira payments to Nigerian students?
Claim: TETFUND Has Approved The Payment of #30,000 To All Students Across Nigeria.
Verdict
The claim that Tertiary Education Trust fund has approved the payment of #30,000 to all Students in Nigeria is FALSE!
Full Text
A viral claim has been circulating on the social media, especially Whatsapp group that the Tertiary Education Trust fund (TETFUND) has approved the payment of #30,000 to all Nigerian Students.
The post claimed that the payment of this #30000 is part of the plan of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to support all Nigerian Students.
Screenshot of the claim
The message provides the link where the people can get access to this #30,000.
Also, the link provided https://tributs.shop/DuwVkde/9597678582756905867195bcb5 requires the user to complete a 3-stage procedure in order to be a beneficiary. The first stage is for one to provide full name, residential address, phone number, email address, state of Origin, date of birth, name of institution and matric number.
The second stage is providing an account number and bank, and the third stage is sharing to 5 groups or 15 friends on Whatsapp before one would be allowed to enter the ‘activation’ page.
Over the years, a lot of false information has erupted from click-bait and phishing sites and this is why Ripples Nigeria has opted to verify the authenticity of this website and set the record straight.
Verification
Ripples Nigeria’s verification shows that the claim is False!
When we subjected the link provided by this message to WhoIs, a domain tool for checking up the owner of a website and the established and expired date of the website,we discovered that the website was registered on the 22nd of October, 2024 and will expire on the 22nd of October, 2025. This means that the website has a lifespan of one year – typical of phishing sites.
Screenshot of the website look-up on WhoIs
According to Wikipedia, phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware.
Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim navigates the site, and transverse any additional security boundaries with the victim.
Also. A visit to the TetFund website shows that the organisation had raised the alarm as far back as May 2021 concerning the activities of fraudsters, as it warned that TetFund was not giving out N20,000 grants to Nigerian students, as stated by the fraudsters then.
Conclusion
Ripples Nigeria’s verification showed that the claim that TETFUND is giving out 30,000 naira to Nigerian students is False! We can confirm that the
link provided leads to a phishing website where unsuspecting people can be defrauded.
By: Abdulrasaq Nafisat Taiye
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