Don’t fall for it, there is no Youth Empowerment Fund doling out $300,000 to 13-year-olds

Ever noticed that those who would relieve you of your hard earned money without your consent are some of the hardest-working people on Earth? Scam artists pull in all-nighters, brainstorming how to help themselves to your wealth.

We all like to think we are wise enough to spot scams but the scammers would have switched careers if nobody was biting. The only true thing is that the ones you fall for are not the ones I fall for. So, if you find out about one, tell me cause I could be about to make a life-altering mistake.

So, whenever we come across scams, let’s expose them. It does not matter that it looks so ‘obvious.’ What’s obvious to you is not obvious to me.

Let’s talk about one that fell on my lap. One of my colleagues came across it. It’s obvious to me but might not be to someone else.

Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme (P-YES)

“The P-YES is aiming to create at least 774,000 empowerment opportunities through direct youth empowerment over a period of two years.“

Creating empowerment opportunities through youth empowerment? Sounds like a solid plan. If you’re honest you’ll admit it doesn’t sound that far off, it sounds exactly like what politicians would say. However, you get to the above after clicking on a link. Here’s the WhatsApp message that hooks you in.

The National Youth Empowerment Fund Application Form 2023 Is Out

National Youth Empowerment Funding Application Form 2023 online for registration exercise which is the quickest to apply for is now out for all bonafide citizens only who needs helping hands in their various Business and Education

The National Youth Empowerment Fund vision is to give out 150,000 – 550,000 grant to every Citizen under the age 13-65 years From 2023-2025.

Age 13-25-(150,000-300,000)
Age 25-65(400,000-700,000)

The Payments has just began for all applicants,Register To be Part of the Beneficiaries
Strictly for Students and Business owners

Check Eligibility and Apply here [we have chosen not to include the link because although we are clearly saying this is a scam, we can’t be sure someone won’t decide to ‘try it out.’]

I have to tell you. When the WhatsApp banner came in and I just saw the “..Fund Application is out” I was like, ‘here we go again.’ It is election season in Zimbabwe right now and we have been getting reports of everyone and their mother-in-law getting 20-hectare pieces of land out of nowhere.

So, when I saw the ‘fund application’ I thought it was a real thing. I felt my blood boil in those 2 seconds it takes a banner to disappear. I thought, ‘there go our tax dollars, funding some vote-getting scheme.’

Then I went to the full message to see just how Zimbabwe was going to bleed for this political manoeuvring. I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Oh, it’s just some run-of-the-mill scam,’ I exclaimed.

Then it hit me. This could fool a few Zimbabweans who are expecting such kinds of ‘deals’ this election season. If the scammers had really polished it up, it could have really worked a charm.

It could have worked

They were greedy though and that’s going to help some potential victims step away from P-YES unscathed. The scammers want P-YES to work in many countries and could not be bothered to customise the messages for specific markets.

You might have noticed that they are no units next to the grant amounts. Are they ZW$, US$, Rands or what? The scammers want you to fill in the units yourself, wherever you may be. They want you to conclude that your 13-year-old brother could get 300,000 in grant money.

They even went so far as to put a few flags and coats of arms on their thing. You know, to make it all look legit. So you’ll see South African, Ugandan, Ghanaian, Indian and some other flags I did not recognise on there.

I think it works against them but that’s what they went with.

We clicked on the link to see how the scam goes so that you don’t have to but it looked too ridiculous to even bother filling out stuff.

They ask for your name, phone number, country etc. Are they after your information or are they trying to get you to send money to them first to ‘unlock the grant?’ Who cares? Let’s just ignore this P-YES nonsense.

Like Telecel says, ‘tell someone.’ You just might save someone from falling for this ridiculousness.

Also read:

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Scammers can now convincingly fake browser windows, including URL. You can protect against that

Beware the scam, you won’t get a UK VISA by sharing an ad on WhatsApp