{"id":249,"date":"2026-10-19T03:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T03:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/?p=249"},"modified":"2026-10-19T03:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T03:16:49","slug":"scam-alert-fake-ipo-and-share-offers-targeting-nigerian-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/2026\/10\/19\/scam-alert-fake-ipo-and-share-offers-targeting-nigerian-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"Scam Alert: Fake IPO and Share Offers Targeting Nigerian Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><p><\/p>\n<p>Big public share offers bring out ordinary investors, and they also bring out people hoping to take advantage of them. The public offer of shares in Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, one of the most talked-about listings in Nigeria\u2019s history, is the latest example. Nigeria\u2019s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued warnings about unauthorised platforms, and in early October it publicly named one.<\/p>\n<p>If you, your family or your staff were interested in the offer, or are being approached about any share or investment deal, this is the moment to slow down and verify.<\/p>\n<h2>What happened<\/h2>\n<p>The refinery\u2019s public offer opened on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on 14 September 2026. According to reports at the time, it offered 4.1 billion new ordinary shares at N525 each, with a minimum subscription of 10 shares, and was expected to run until 13 October 2026, subject to the prospectus. On the day the offer opened, the SEC warned the public to ignore \u201cunauthorised and fraudulent platforms\u201d and to subscribe only through approved channels such as NGX Invest, designated banks and authorised investment platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in a notice dated 9 October and posted on its website the next day, the SEC said a platform called <strong>WayvePay<\/strong>, which had promoted the offer through a newspaper advertisement, is <strong>not registered<\/strong> by the Commission to solicit investments from the public or operate in Nigeria\u2019s capital market. The SEC warned that dealing with unregistered entities exposes investors to fraud and potential loss, and that anyone dealing with the platform on capital market matters does so at their own risk.<\/p>\n<p>The SEC\u2019s notice concerns registration status. It does not, by itself, describe what the platform did with any money received. But the principle is the same for every investor: if a platform is not registered to take your investment, your money has no regulatory protection.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2620808649_ebea8d9b07_b-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"A person using a banking app on a smartphone\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption>Photo: \u201cMobile Phone with Money in Kenya\u201d by whiteafrican, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>How fake share offers usually work<\/h2>\n<p>Scams built around popular listings follow familiar patterns. Watch for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cGuaranteed allotment\u201d promises.<\/strong> Real public offers allocate shares according to the prospectus. No one can legitimately guarantee you a bigger allocation for a fee.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Late or \u201cspecial window\u201d offers.<\/strong> Messages claiming you can still buy at the offer price after it closes, or ahead of other investors, are a red flag.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Discounted \u201cpre-listing\u201d shares.<\/strong> Offers to sell shares below the official price through a private arrangement are almost always fraudulent.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Payments to personal accounts.<\/strong> Legitimate subscriptions go through banks, stockbrokers and approved platforms, not into an individual\u2019s account or a wallet number sent on WhatsApp.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pressure and secrecy.<\/strong> The SEC lists unrealistic profit promises, pressure to decide quickly and demands for upfront payment through suspicious channels as classic warning signs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look-alike adverts and pages.<\/strong> Social media adverts, fake websites and Telegram groups may borrow real company names, logos and photos to look official.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to verify before you invest<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Check registration.<\/strong> Visit the SEC\u2019s official website at sec.gov.ng and confirm the platform or broker is registered. Type the address yourself rather than clicking links in messages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use known channels.<\/strong> Subscribe to public offers only through licensed stockbrokers, your own bank\u2019s official channels or platforms named in the official prospectus.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Read the prospectus.<\/strong> It sets out the offer price, dates, receiving agents and how shares are allotted. Anything that contradicts it is suspect.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Confirm your CSCS account.<\/strong> Shares bought on the Nigerian market are held through the Central Securities Clearing System. Ask your stockbroker how to confirm your holdings independently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Call to confirm.<\/strong> If someone claims to represent a bank or broker, end the conversation and call the institution using a number from its official website.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>If you have already paid<\/h2>\n<p>Act quickly. Contact your bank immediately to report the transfer and ask whether it can be traced or stopped. Keep every receipt, message, phone number and account detail. Report the platform to the SEC through its official channels and to the police. Be careful of anyone who later contacts you offering to \u201crecover\u201d your money for a fee; recovery scams often target people who have just lost money.<\/p>\n<h2>What you should do<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Never invest through a platform you have not verified<\/strong> on the SEC website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignore offers<\/strong> of guaranteed allocations, discounts or late access to any share offer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pay only<\/strong> through licensed brokers, banks or channels named in the official prospectus.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Warn your staff and family,<\/strong> especially those new to investing, and share the SEC\u2019s official website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Report suspicious offers<\/strong> to the SEC so others can be warned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A genuine opportunity will still be genuine after you take ten minutes to check. A scam depends on you not checking at all.<\/p>\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legit.ng\/business-economy\/capital-market\/1735452-sec-exposes-fraudulent-investment-plattform-warns-nigerians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SEC Exposes Unapproved Platform Offering Dangote Refinery IPO Shares to Nigerians \u2013 Legit.ng<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202609150111.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Nigeria: Dangote Refinery IPO \u2013 SEC Warns Investors Against Fraudulent Platforms \u2013 AllAfrica<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/businesspost.ng\/economy\/run-from-any-unregistered-online-investment-platform-sec-warns-nigerians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Run From Any Unregistered Online Investment Platform, SEC Warns Nigerians \u2013 Business Post<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mitp-photo-credit\"><small>Featured image: Photo: \u201cAnalyzing Stock Market\u201d by ota_photos, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/101332430@N03\/9677861633\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">source<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dangote refinery share offer drew huge public interest, and with it, unregistered platforms seeking investors&#8217; money. The SEC has already flagged one. Here is how to spot fake share offers and invest only through approved channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[89,91,86,88,90,87],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awareness","category-scam-alert","tag-dangote-refinery","tag-fraud-prevention","tag-investment-scam","tag-ipo","tag-ngx","tag-sec-nigeria"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9677861633_cc1d703f56_b.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosravo.com\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}