How to Stay Ahead of Scammers This Ember Season
There is a pattern around the ember months. As the year winds down, fraudulent activity and financial losses have historically shown spikes around this period.
More people are spending, doing business and looking for ways to make money before the year ends. This is what the year-end rush creates. It creates an opening for scammers, giving them plenty of room to make a fraudulent offer look like exactly what someone needs.
These days Scams looks believable. They can look like a timely opportunity or a deal that seems too good to ignore. Often, the warning signs only become obvious after it is too late.
That is why staying ahead of a scam is not just spotting what looks suspicious. It is knowing when to pause, check the details and ask the right questions before making a financial decision.
Here are things to look out for:
When the investment looks legitimate
Sometimes, everything about an investment opportunity looks right on the surface.
Some promise unusually high returns. Others present themselves as sophisticated investment platforms, build credibility through social media and use testimonials to make the opportunity feel proven. Ponzi schemes can be particularly convincing because early participants may receive returns, creating the impression that the investment is working.
CBEX showed how believable this can be. In 2025, the platform attracted Nigerians through referrals and promises of high returns. Some people were initially able to withdraw money, until it becomes impossible when the platform later collapsed, leaving investors unable to access their funds.
The lesson here is a friend making money from an investment is not due diligence. Neither is a professional-looking website.
Before putting money into an unfamiliar investment, check who operates it, what it actually invests in and whether it is registered with the relevant regulator.
The opportunity can wait. Verification should come first.
When a business opportunity comes at the right time
The ember season often comes with increased demand.
For businesses, that can mean more orders and an opportunity to increase sales before the year ends.
At that point, for a business owner, a large order or an opportunity to stock up ahead of the rush can seem like exactly what the business needs.
That is also where scammers can find an opening.
A business owner trying to move quickly may receive a convincing offer from someone posing as a supplier, distributor, or client. There may be a request for an upfront payment, a deposit or sensitive business information before the transaction can proceed.
The pressure to secure the opportunity can make it tempting to skip a few checks.
Before paying a new supplier or committing money to an unfamiliar business opportunity, verify first.
When the deal online looks too good
The ember season is also a busy period for shopping.
That gives scammers plenty of opportunities to create fake stores, fake vendor accounts and fake promotions.
The pattern is familiar: an attractive product, an unusually low price and a reason to pay immediately before the offer disappears.
NIBSS identifies commerce scams as one of the social media fraud methods used by scammers. These scams can involve attractive offers and urgency designed to get people to make payments before receiving any value.
Before paying an unfamiliar seller, check the account history, look for reviews and confirm that the business actually exists. Be especially careful when the seller insists on an unusual payment method or keeps creating reasons why payment has to happen immediately.
A discount is not a bargain if the product never arrives.
When a giveaway asks for money first
“Congratulations, you have won.”
It is a message many people would be happy to receive.
Fake giveaways work by creating excitement before asking for money or personal information. A scammer may claim that a processing fee, delivery charge or verification payment is required before the prize can be released.
NIBSS identifies promotion and lottery scams among the social media fraud methods used by scammers, including schemes where people are told they have won a prize and asked to pay an advance fee.
You need to first ask one simple question: Did I actually enter this giveaway?
If the answer is no, there is probably no prize waiting to be claimed.
Even when a promotion appears to come from a real company, verify it through the company’s official channels rather than clicking a link sent in an unexpected message.
When a message creates a financial emergency
Phishing and payment scams depend heavily on urgency.
A message may claim that an account needs to be verified, a payment has failed, a package cannot be delivered, or an offer will expire unless action is taken immediately.
The goal is to get the recipient to click a link, reveal sensitive information or transfer money before they stop to question what is happening.
This is why unexpected financial messages deserve extra attention.
Do not share PINs, passwords or OTPs because someone claims they need them to reverse a transaction or secure an account. Do not click unfamiliar links simply because a message appears to come from a bank, fintech, delivery company or another familiar organization.
When in doubt, leave the message and contact the organization through an official channel.
Slow down before the money leaves
The most effective scams often have one thing in common: they give people a reason to act before they have time to think.
This ember season, slowing down can be a financial decision in itself.
Before money leaves your account, verify.
The year may be coming to an end, but there is no financial goal worth achieving by putting money at unnecessary risk.
Stay one step ahead of scammers.
NOW TO THE NEWS
Vale Set to Hold Another Edition of SME Clinic for Growing Businesses
Vale Finance is set to host a Supply Chain edition of its SME Clinic, focused on helping growing FMCG businesses prepare for wider distribution and bigger orders.
The free virtual session, themed “From Production to Scale: Preparing for Wider Distribution & Bigger Orders,” will hold on 25th September 2026, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM.
The clinic will focus on two key areas of the scaling journey. Aisosa Fadaka, Head of Sales, Southwest at FrieslandCampina WAMCO, will speak on getting ready for wider distribution, exploring what growing FMCG businesses need to put in place to move into larger retail and distribution channels.
Barong Asiodu, GM, Corporate Planning & Strategy at Rite Foods Limited, will speak on winning bigger orders, focusing on how businesses can build the production capacity, supply and cash flow needed to fulfil larger orders without putting unnecessary pressure on their operations.
The session is free and open to business owners and growing manufacturers looking to better prepare for their next stage of growth.
Register here: Vale Supply Chain SME Clinic
IMF says FX financial stress alone does not justify central bank intervention
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that evidence of financial stress in foreign exchange markets does not automatically mean central banks should intervene to support or stabilize their currencies.
In a new Staff Discussion Note, the IMF said exchange rate movements can be driven by a mix of macroeconomic fundamentals, financial shocks and market frictions. While financial shocks can amplify currency movements and, in some cases, spill over into the wider economy, many exchange rate changes may not require a policy response.
The Fund’s analysis of Brazil and Chile found that financial shocks accounted for about one-third of fluctuations in the uncovered interest parity (UIP) premium and around half of nominal exchange rate movements. However, they accounted for less than 10% of movements in output and inflation. This suggests that currency movements are often influenced by financial conditions without necessarily signaling broader economic instability.
The IMF therefore said policymakers should look beyond the presence of a financial shock when deciding whether to intervene in the foreign exchange market. Other factors, including the country’s foreign exchange reserves, currency mismatches, inflation expectations, market functioning and whether intervention would be more effective than alternatives such as macro prudential measures, should also be considered.
The broader message is that a volatile or weakening currency does not, by itself, justify central bank intervention. For countries with floating exchange rates, the IMF said maintaining exchange rate flexibility remains important because it allows economies to adjust to shocks while supporting broader macroeconomic stability.
FG, CBN sign agreement as Nigeria moves towards inflation targeting
The Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen coordination on inflation, public debt, government borrowing, liquidity and foreign exchange management as Nigeria moves towards an inflation-targeting framework.
The agreement, signed in Abuja, creates a formal structure for regular consultation, data sharing and policy coordination between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the CBN. CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso said the framework would cover government cash management, debt issuance, liquidity forecasting, macroeconomic analysis and other areas of economic policy.
Cardoso said closer coordination was necessary because fiscal and monetary policies influence each other. Government spending, taxation and borrowing affect economic activity, while monetary policy influences liquidity, interest rates and price stability. He added that a supportive fiscal environment would be important to the CBN’s transition towards inflation targeting.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the government is targeting a sustainable reduction in inflation to single digits. He said achieving that goal would require more than monetary policy, with fiscal authorities also needing to maintain disciplined spending, improve cash and liquidity management and ensure government financing does not crowd out private-sector credit.
The agreement will also provide a framework for closer coordination on foreign exchange management, exchange-rate stability and external shocks. CBN officials said the institutions would use shared data, joint technical analysis, scenario planning and stress testing to assess how changes in oil prices and production could affect government revenue, foreign exchange inflows, reserves, inflation and financing conditions.
Both sides stressed that greater coordination would not mean the CBN would lose its independence. Oyedele said the central bank would retain its operational independence in pursuing price and financial-system stability, while the broader framework is intended to prevent fiscal and monetary policies from working against each other and to balance inflation control with economic growth.
World Bank mobilizes $22bn in private capital for Africa
The World Bank Group mobilized $22bn in private capital for Africa in its 2026 fiscal year, up from about $9bn four years earlier, as it expanded efforts to attract private investment into developing economies.
Across developing economies, private capital mobilization more than tripled from $35bn in FY22 to $112bn in FY26. The World Bank Group said the increase reflected changes introduced over the past three years to make it easier and faster for private investors to participate in projects in developing markets.
The growth was particularly strong in lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income economies. Mobilization in lower-middle-income countries increased from $14bn to $37bn, while upper-middle-income countries rose from $12bn to $50bn. In low-income countries, where attracting private investment remains more difficult, mobilization remained at about $3bn.
The World Bank Group attributed the increase to expanded use of guarantees, local-currency financing and equity tools, as well as efforts to address foreign-exchange risks and create more opportunities for institutional investors. The institution also brought its public and private sector operations closer together as part of efforts to simplify its engagement with investors.
Guarantees were a major part of the expansion. The World Bank Group issued more than $25bn in guarantees in FY26, exceeding its $20bn annual target for 2030 four years ahead of schedule. The group said this was particularly significant for Africa, where it aims to more than double annual guarantee issuance to $6.4bn by 2030.
The institution said the additional guarantees are expected to mobilize $23bn in private capital for Africa over the following four years. It also said 55% of its total financing, including its own funds and mobilized private capital, went to five job-intensive sectors in FY26: infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and value-added manufacturing.
World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said the focus would now be on directing more private capital towards projects that can create jobs and expand economic opportunities. The institution is also developing an originate-to-distribute model to package investments for institutional investors, with the aim of increasing the scale of private financing available to developing economies.
