Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned Nigerians about fraudulent schemes using her name and image to promote investment offers.
She raised the concern in a post on her social media account on Friday while disowning a project titled “Prime Aura Programme,” which claimed to offer weekly returns with a minimum investment.
The advert, which appeared in a publication with a masthead similar to that of The Punch, stated that the scheme had benefited thousands of Nigerians and promised returns of N460,000 per week.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said the publication was false and one of several attempts to use her identity to promote fraudulent activities.
“Please note this fake use of my name and photo and ignore. My team and lawyers are handling. But in the meantime, like other fake postings falsely using my name and image, I don’t want anyone to lose their money,” she said.
She added that her team had checked the website and found it to be fake.
“My staff has visited the website, and it appears to be fake. So @MobilePunch kindly take action as well. We must fight the fraudsters vigorously!!” she said.
She advised Nigerians not to subscribe to the scheme.
The WTO chief had earlier warned about a similar case involving a video that used her image to promote an investment platform.
In the earlier alert, she said the video was not from her and was being handled by authorities.
“Just alerting Nigerians. Another fake AI-manipulated video. The authorities are handling it. Just wanted to alert you to be aware of this,” she said.
She also stated that she communicates only through X and not on other platforms.
“As I repeatedly said, I never post anything on Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp. Anything emanating from these sources with my image is not from me. I only post on Twitter/X. I just don’t want people to be duped,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala has served as director-general of the World Trade Organization since 2021. She was reappointed for a second term in 2024.
