Beware of GoFundMe Scams, Money transfer (Western Union, MoneyGram) Scams, Instagram Scams, Facebook Scams, Twitter Scams, Adoption Scams, Telephone scams, Google voice scams, Street collection scams, E-mail scams and LinkedIn Scams implying association with House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) and Watch Out for Fake HOM Employee ID Cards or Badges, Fake Ambassadors, Fake Agent & Fake Fundraisers.

Updated April 18, 2024

Requests for donations allegedly made on behalf of HOM, to be sent to an individual through a money transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram, or to a PayPal account or a personal bank account or on GoFundMe are fraudulent and should be disregarded.

We have been notified that several individuals have been parading themselves as employees and affiliates of House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) with fake HOM employee ID Cards and are requesting donations from people with the aim of defrauding them.

We pay particular reference to the following:

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of scams on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter involving fraudsters impersonating movie stars and requesting for donations via Western Union to different receivers: Victor Iteje – Bank First City Monument Bank Limited – phone 2349068461382, Bishop Deji, Oba Anu and Tony Nwogu. Please note that this is a scam. These individuals are fraudsters and are not associated with House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) in any way. Do not respond to requests to donate through a money transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram, as this is a tactic commonly used in scams. HOM never sends e-mails or messages to random people on social media platforms requesting for donations. Anyone who transacts business with these fraudsters does so at his/her own risk. Please beware of fake ambassadors, fake representatives and fake agents!

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of GoFundMe Scams involving Meshack Isaac and other individuals who have set up GoFundMe pages for the benefit of HOM. Please note that these are all scams, these individuals are fraudsters and are not associated with House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) in any way. House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) does not have a GoFundMe page and anyone who responds to fundraising appeals by these individuals does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to beware of Instagram Accounts involving individuals operating under the names of Nurudeen charity home, Pastor Ibraham Ojeme etc requesting for donations for children born with cancer. These individuals are fraudsters and are not associated with House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) in any way. House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) does NOT have an Instagram Account and we are NOT affiliated in any way with Nurudeen charity home or any Instagram or fake social media accounts containing videos, images or reports about HOM’s charitable activities. Anyone who transacts business with these individuals does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of scams involving Beatrice Chizea, Date of Birth 30 October 1980, Place of Birth Enugu, Passport numbers A05901535 and AO170889 issued in Delta on 07 December 2016 who claims to be an employee of HOM and has been sending letters on fake HOM letterhead paper to people requesting for donations on behalf of HOM through Western Union to receiver: Beatrice Chizea, block 5 Hopewell street, Lagos, Nigeria phone number +234 7016431364. Please note that this is a scam. This individual is a fraudster and is not associated with House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) in any way. HOM NEVER sends e-mails or messages to random people on social media platforms requesting for donations. Do not respond to requests to donate through a money transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram, as this is a tactic commonly used in scams. Anyone who transacts business with this individual does so at his/her own risk.

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of scams on Facebook involving fraudsters infiltrating Facebook groups to post pictures of sick children, request for donations, propose adoption scams and other scams depending on the theme of the Facebook group. Please note that these are all scams. These individuals are fraudsters and are not associated with House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) in any way. HOM never posts messages on social media platforms to propose child adoption or to request for donations. Anyone who transacts business with these individuals does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of scams involving fraudsters claiming to be agents of HOM.  Please note that this is a scam. These individuals are conmen and are not employees of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM). HOM does not employ agents or send staff members to go around soliciting financial or material donations. Anyone who transacts business with these conmen does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

• Anthony Osemudiawen who has been collecting donations on Facebook on behalf of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) via a transfer of funds through Western Union and MoneyGram to Receiver: Anthony Osemudiawen. Please note that this is a scam. This individual is a fraudster and is not an employee of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM). Do not respond to requests to donate through a money transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram, as this is a tactic commonly used in scams. HOM never sends messages to random people on social media platforms requesting for donations. Anyone who transacts business with this man does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be cautious of scams involving fraudsters claiming that HOM has another branch or office on Lagos Island or in another state in Nigeria. Our official address is 44 Adebambo street, off Orelope Street, Egbeda, Lagos, Nigeria www.homchildrenshome.org/contact and we do not have offices in any other location on Lagos Island or in any other state in Nigeria.

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is advising the public to be aware of potential fundraising scams going around where individuals and organisations are claiming that they are affiliated with HOM and are organising fundraising events for the benefit of HOM. Our official website is www.homchildrenshome.org. We are NOT affiliated in any way with TheBuzz Tv Show or any third party website even though the website may contain videos, images or reports about HOM’s charitable activities. We are not responsible for the practices employed by any website with content containing references to House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM). We take the issue of scams very seriously and investigate every case of fraud reported to us. We encourage you to report any fundraising appeal that you suspect is a scam to us via [email protected]

• House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) is warning the public to beware of telephone scams seeking donations on behalf of HOM. The telephone solicitors are NOT employees of HOM and they should not be soliciting on behalf of HOM. Also note that House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) NEVER solicits donations by telephone, e-mail or on social media platforms. Our official phone number is 0802 249 9177, be wary of look-alike phone numbers, fundraiser telephone scams and aggressive telemarketing by callers who falsely claim to represent House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM).

• Through a fake profile on LinkedIn, some unnamed individuals have been sending connection requests and soliciting for donations of $4,996 on behalf of House of Mercy Lagos, Nigeria to complete a building project. Please note that this is a scam. House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) does not have a LinkedIn account. Neither do we send connection requests to random people on social media platforms requesting for donations.

• Bayi Aliu who has been requesting for donations on Facebook on behalf of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) Lagos via a transfer of funds through Western Union and MoneyGram to Receiver: Bayi Aliu, State: Delta State. This individual is a fraudster and is not an employee of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM). HOM is based in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria and has no presence or projects in Delta State, South-South Nigeria, neither are we affiliated with any individual or individuals in Delta State, which is over 400km away from the city of Lagos. Do not respond to requests to donate through a money transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram, as this is a tactic commonly used in scams.

• Debora Nana-Ogbuta Ozonuwe who claims to be the founder of House of Mercy Children’s Home Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) and is requesting for donations on Facebook via a transfer of funds through Western Union to Receiver: Nana-Ogbuta Ozonuwe. City: Lagos Nigeria. This Facebook post is completely spurious and fraudulent. This individual is a fraudster and is neither the founder of House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos Nigeria (HOM) nor an employee of the charity. Do not respond to requests to donate through a money transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram, as this is a tactic commonly used in scams.

• Victor Mike with the e-mail address [email protected] and a physical address of No 54 Warri Sapele Road, Delta State. He claims he is working on behalf of House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos (HOM) and has been requesting for donations on our behalf. Please note that this is a SCAM. This individual is a fraudster and does not work for House of Mercy Children’s Home, (HOM) Lagos. HOM is based in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria and has no presence or projects in Delta State, South-South Nigeria, neither are we affiliated with any individual or individuals in Delta State, which is over 400km away from the city of Lagos. It is a standard tactic among online fraudsters to send e-mails to random people, purporting to be from a legitimate charity. Please note that our official e-mail address is [email protected] and we do not communicate with our supporters with any other email address. Neither do we send spam e-mails to random people requesting for donations. Anyone who transacts business with this man does so at his/her own risk. Please beware!

HOM strongly recommends that the recipients of solicitations such as those described above exercise extreme caution in respect of such solicitations. Financial loss and identity theft could result from the transfer of money or personal information to those issuing such fraudulent correspondence.

HOM declines all responsibility for any consequences, including but not limited to, financial loss and identity theft or other, that may derive from such scams that falsely claim to originate from, or make reference to, House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM).

We are extremely grateful to all the people who fended off these scams and drew our attention to the fraudulent activities being perpetrated purportedly in the name of House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) through telephone and e-mail solicitations and on social media platforms.

While HOM makes every effort to prevent such scams from occurring and stopping them when they do take place, we cannot always guarantee to prevent all such communications circulating.

In the event of HOM being notified of any fraudulent activity, the appropriate authorities, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Police, are always notified.

Victims of such scams may also report them to their local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.

If you receive a phishing or fraudulent email, a request for donation on any social media site or a fake fundraising appeal conducted in the name of House of Mercy Children’s Home, Lagos, Nigeria (HOM) with the HOM logo and photos taken from our website, please send a copy of the correspondence – including the email sender’s information, email subject and date – to [email protected].

For general guidelines about scams, please visit our Scam Alert page. A Scam Alert video can also be viewed on our YouTube channel.

Thank you for helping us in the fight against fraud and fraudsters.