It’s true that Ecobank has an upcoming event. But it’s not an anniversary, not its 40th either. This is an event hinged on corporate social responsibility and no participants are required to click the malicious link above in order to join. And, there will be no specified $3000 present, at least.

By Charles Lotara

As the Ecobank Day draws closer, a promotional message with a malicious link has hit WhatsApp platform and has been shared multiple times.

The message prompts users to “click the link to participate in the survey” and “have a chance to win $3000”. This is purportedly happening on the 40^th Anniversary of Ecobank.

It is untrue. Ecobank was established in 1985 according to the data on the company’s official website. That makes the bank 36 years old.

The Uniform Resource Locator

Further verification and fact-checking on the link reveals that the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) http://dinnerscare.top attached to the WhatsApp message crafted by a Nigerian user was registered on 28/09/2021.

According to Whois.com, a site that reveals domain identity, the website is hosted by Alibaba.com, Chinese-owned e-commerce giant.

While it is conventionally common that a credible website can be hosted outside the country of the domain registrant, the web address attached to this promotional message attributed to Ecobank is registered under a company called lvhai Ming in Liaoning, a province in China.

The company’s details could not be established by 211 Check as it was not indexed by major search engines at the time of writing. This could be because the company is still new and yet to be indexed by search engines or it is operating as a pseudonym, an aspect search crawler strongly discourages.

A Safe Web Report Generated by Norton Safe Web, a web reputation management service by NortonLifeLock, rated the site http://dinnerscare.top as “Cautious”, among sites that  “may have a small number of threats and annoyances”.

The domain analyses indicate no link between Ecobank and the URL on the text accompanied by random characters.

About the Ecobank Event

It is true that Ecobank has an upcoming event slated for 22^nd October 2021, which is on Friday this week.

Dubbed the Ecobank Day, it is the day on which the bank will be “raising about mental health”. The Pan African Bank started the three-year campaign ‘Together for Better Health’ in 2019 to show its commitment to preventing NCDs, which encompasses mental, neurological and substance use disorders.

“We are raising awareness and helping to prevent the incidence of NCDs across Africa. The annual highlight of the campaign is during Ecobank Day, our pan-African initiative that takes place in the last quarter of each year, when Ecobank and its staff give back to their communities,” a statement on the bank’s official website read.

Conclusion

It’s true that Ecobank has an upcoming event. But it’s not an anniversary, not its 40^th either. This is an event hinged on corporate social responsibility and no participants are required to click the malicious link above in order to join. And, there will be no specified $3000 present, at least.

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