How to avoid electricity token scams

Electricity fraud in Nigeria is common, well practised, and mostly avoidable. Nearly all of it relies on you paying outside a proper platform.

Discounted tokens

Someone offers units well below face value. Either you get nothing, or you get a token generated against a stolen card that the DISCO later reverses — leaving you with no units and no recourse.

Tokens are not discountable. The tariff is regulated. Anyone offering 40% off is not doing you a favour.

The fake vendor call

Someone calls claiming to be from your DISCO. Your meter is faulty, or there is a reconciliation issue, and they need your meter number and a payment to a personal account.

No DISCO calls to request payment into a personal account. Ever. Hang up and call your DISCO on the number from your bill.

WhatsApp "agents"

A profile advertises fast vending. You transfer, they go quiet. There is no platform, no receipt, no record, and nobody to complain to.

OTP harvesting

Someone helping you with a purchase asks you to read out the code your bank just sent. That code authorises a transaction, and once you read it out it authorises theirs. No legitimate person ever needs an OTP you received.

The rules that cover all of it

• Pay through the app, or a link you opened yourself. Never a link someone sent you.
• Never pay a person for electricity. Pay a platform, and get a receipt.
• Never share an OTP, PIN or password. Nobody needs them.
• Check the meter name on validation before paying.
• Support replies inside the ticket system — never on WhatsApp or social media DMs.