By Abigail Mbah
Nigerians woke up this week to a wave of unsolicited text messages claiming they had committed traffic offences under the Federal Road Safety Corps. The messages, often appearing under the name “Traffic” or simply labelled as FRSC alerts, warned of new road traffic offence records and urged recipients to click a link to review the details and settle the fine.
Several people followed those links. What looked like a routine payment for a few thousand naira quickly turned into much larger losses from their bank accounts.
Comedian MC Monica, whose real name is Edeh Sylvester Chisom, shared his experience on Instagram. He received the SMS, clicked the link, and paid what he believed was a ₦5,000 fine. The next morning, he found roughly ₦1.8 million gone from his Wema Bank account through unauthorised web transactions. Screenshots he posted showed a large “WEB Buy” debit among other transfers. He said his account officer told him little could be done. “I don’t know who to blame, whether from my service provider or road safety,” he wrote, tagging the official FRSC account and asking how his details reached the scammers.
Similar reports have come from others. Nollywood actress Eva Ibiam lost around ₦364,000 after responding to a comparable message. She had recently been stopped by road safety officers who photographed her plate, which made the alert feel credible. Her bank records showed a genuine OTP followed minutes later by an international web purchase linked to a merchant in Dubai.
Actor Deza The Great also reported losing about $2,500 after entering his card details on one of the sites.
The Federal Road Safety Corps moved quickly to distance itself from the messages.
In a statement issued on 16 September and signed by Corps Public Education Officer Osondu Ohaeri, the agency said the SMS were fraudulent and being circulated through mobile devices and social media.
It specifically disowned websites such as frscgov.top/ng, stating they have no affiliation with the Corps. The official website remains frsc.gov.ng, and the national toll-free number is 122.
FRSC explained that the messages create urgency by claiming a new offence has been recorded and directing people to “review the relevant details.”
The agency warned that the links appear designed to collect personal information, financial details, passwords, card data, driver’s licence numbers and vehicle registration information.
It advised the public not to click the links, make any payments, or share banking details in response. Anyone who receives such a message should keep the evidence and report it through proper channels.
The pattern points to a classic phishing operation dressed up as government enforcement. Victims land on sites that mimic official portals, display an alleged violation, and request card details and a one-time password to “clear” a small fine. Once those credentials are entered, larger transactions can follow, sometimes routed overseas.
Domains used in the campaign often feature endings such as top, cam or .cc rather than the legitimate.gov.ng.
Cybersecurity observers note that this fits a broader trend of fraudsters borrowing the credibility of Nigerian government brands. The small initial payment request lowers suspicion while the real target is the banking information that unlocks bigger withdrawals.
Questions remain about how the operators obtained the phone numbers in the first place, with some pointing to existing data circulating in black markets rather than a single fresh breach.
FRSC has urged motorists to verify any claimed offence only through its authorised channels and to share the warning widely.
Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed has called for public sensitisation under the simple instruction to stop, verify and report before acting on any message that claims to come from the agency.
For now, the advice from both the Corps and those who have already lost money is consistent: treat any unsolicited traffic fine link with extreme caution.
Legitimate FRSC payments go through commercial banks or the official Remita platform after a proper notice of offence, not through random SMS links.