Verdict: Facebook page posing as an agent of Paga is not Real Brief: A Facebook page is impersonating a financial service company, PAGA, and offering a fake promo on their POS machine. Full text: Our researcher saw a Facebook-sponsored advertisement dated August 13, 2024, posted by a user POS, that Paga is
Verdict: Facebook page posing as an agent of Paga is not Real
Brief: A Facebook page is impersonating a financial service company, PAGA, and offering a fake promo on their POS machine.
Full text:
Our researcher saw a Facebook-sponsored advertisement dated August 13, 2024, posted by a user POS, that Paga is running a promo on their POS machine, which comes with free materials such as a table, chair, T-shirt, cap, etc.
The user went ahead to say that the cost of the POS is N10,000 and it would be paid upon delivery, and there was also an attachment of a WhatsApp number of a claimed marketing representative.
The post has over 45 comments, most of them from users saying the platform is real and does pay out while others enquire about ways to join.
Screenshot
In a further finding, we noticed that similar sponsored posts exist as listed; Paga Nigeria,here, here, here, here and here,
Screenshot
It was noticed that the post has gotten some suspicious reaction from the comment section this could be seen by ‘This number 07071021253 With this fake name Felix paga POS IS A SCAMMER OOOOOOOO DONT FALL VICTIM OOOOOOO, HE WAS ASKING FOR A CODE THEY SENT TO MY PHONE OOOOOOOOOOO’, also “They just did that to me and I was wondering you sent code so why still ask for me the code. That’s how I insulted them and he blocked me cause I told him I’m a bad market to them . Please this people are scam ooo”.
Paga is a fintech organisation, established since 2009 to address some financial challenges Nigerians face every day through a suite of payment solutions for businesses and consumers, leveraging its online and offline.
It has been observed that there have been impersonations in all sectors in which some companies’s identities are being stolen to commit fraudulent activities, meanwhile fintech companies are not exempted as seen by this Facebook post therefore.
To set the record straight and ensure that credible information about business organisations dominates the public space for accuracy, verification is required.
Therefore we decided to check the veracity of the purported claim.
Verification:
Firstly, we subjected our findings to getting the true Facebook account of Paga, we found the verified account of the fintech company, which has over 158,000 followers and 150,000 likes. Furthermore, the Facebook account was created on March 13th, 2010 and linked to the real website.
To uncover the truth of this, our researcher went ahead to chat up the number attached to the above Facebook page, in their conversation, it was noticed that the Facebook user was a scam. The said acclaimed agent of Paga asked our researcher to open a business account and after that the password should be reset and notify them of the change.
Screenshot of our researcher and the acclaimed agent
In a more in-depth research, we made a key search to know if Paga had been notified of scammers parading themselves as their agents. We found out that on May 13th 2022, a scam alert warning was released by Paga on their Facebook.
Screenshot from Paga Facebook account
Furthermore, we reached out to Paga through its social media verified account on X Paga Group Ltd., and we got a response that said that ‘Paga does not have any third-party selling Paga POS terminals or registering agents on behalf of Paga. All POS and agent account requests should be sent to us directly via any of our official contact channels, and Paga is not liable for any transaction done outside any of these channels below.
Screenshot from Paga X handle
Finally, we reached out to the customer service unit of the company through a telephone conversation. Miss Cynthia a customer care representative of Paga, debunked the story saying the company is not running a promo at the moment.
She went ahead stating that it not true that they are sharing any material as such, she stressed the need to disregard any information that is not from the official website or social media handle of the company and do well to unfollow them.
Conclusion:
As the research has proven, the Facebook pages claiming to be working with Paga are false. It is important that the people should be on the lookout for more of these pages and individuals who parade themselves as agents of this fintech and not fall victim.
