Claim #1: “The National Youth Empowerment Fund application form 2024-2026 is out and the vision is to give 150,000 -550,000 grants to every citizen under the age 13-65 years.”
Source: Circulating in WhatsApp chart room and Telegram
Verdict: Fake, we found the websites Offering Funds For Presidential Youth Empowerment as a hoax
Full Text: A website claiming to provide funds for a “presidential youth empowerment scheme” is gaining attention in various WhatsApp groups and Telegram.
“P-YES aims to provide grants ranging from 150,000 to 550,000 to every citizen between the age of 13-65 years from 2024-2026. Those aged 13 to 25 will receive 150,000 to 300,00 while those aged 25 to 65 will receive 400,000 to 700,000.”
The website showcases national flags and coats of arms from various nations and offers an application form with personal details and previous applications.
There is an application form on the website that asks for personal details such as name, phone number, region, and country of residency in addition to whether the applicant has applied before.
Claim #2: We also spotted on WhatsApp another claim requesting an application from students for a laptop scheme.
The claim stated “The Applications for the Students Laptop Scheme 2024 Is Available. This scheme is open to all students who, for financial reasons, are unable to purchase their laptop and require one at their level of education.”
According to the message, over 960,000 students will be given free laptops in 2024 to help them learn, and the application process has begun, with students who have applied already receiving their laptops.
Verification: The Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme, a public-private partnership in Nigeria, is overseen by the president’s special assistant for youth and student affairs.
The advertisement of legitimate government funds on a poorly designed website with poorly written text is unlikely to be effective. Is the content on this page relevant to the collaboration, we check to authenticate the information.
When you try opening the link this is what appears “FG: Congratulations, you are among the selected ones to receive the Youth Empowerment Funds, kindly press 1 to submit your information now.”
After filling in the details on the form, one is asked to share the link “with 15 friends or 5 groups on WhatsApp” as the only way for the application to be valid.
To further authenticate the website, we tested the link using scamdoc.com, a web tool that evaluates the trust of “digital identities” (email addresses or websites) a tool that authenticates the digital identity of a to verify its authenticity, but it has no connection to Presidential Youth Empowerment (P-YES).
We note further that the website is also suspiciously similar to a site Africa Check debunked in October 2022, also for a fake “Youth Empowerment Scheme.”
Like the P-Yes, the laptop scam link is attached for registration purposes that encourages students to apply. When our researcher clicks the link, it takes us to a page with a warning stating that the website is dangerous.
Also, we checked Scamdoc and discovered that the A HTTPS security protocol has been detected on this website but also warned the public to be careful because the indicator is not always synonymous with security.
According to Scamdoc, the website also had a negative review that was detected on the internet and the owner of the domain name associated with this site is hidden in the Whois database.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it has been determined that the material contained in the links seen here and here is fake and conveys false information.
